(USA TODAY) -- It is a stunning separation.
For years, The Washington Post and the Graham family have been as deeply intertwined as it is possible for a news outlet and its owners to be.
In fact, the storied newspaper almost seemed like part of the Graham family. Generation after generation served as its steward. The Grahams flat-out loved that paper.
And so the news late Monday afternoon that the paper was being sold to Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos came as a shock. It must have been a deeply painful decision for Post Co. CEO Donald Graham.
But despite its legendary history, its courageous and inspirational role in publishing the Pentagon Papers and exposing Watergate secrets, its continuing if diminished commitment to quality journalism, the paper is hardly immune to the profoundly disruptive impact of the digital era.