In the battle between the president and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has become a pawn. The president has even suggested that because of Bezos’s control of Amazon and Washington’s premier newspaper, The Washington Post should register as a lobbyist.

Despite the claimed distance between the paper and America’s largest e-commerce company, subscribers to Amazon’s Prime membership service can get a free six-month subscription to The Washington Post.

Amazon describes the deal as “exclusive.” As the promotion says as Prime subscribers hit their “checkout” page:

The Washington Post Digital Access
Sold by: Washington Post
PRIME EXCLUSIVE DEAL
FREE for 6 months
Renews at $3.99/month $10.00/month

The deal for more than six months also appears to be better than what the general public can get:

By signing up, you agree to Amazon.com’s Privacy Notice and Conditions of Use and authorize us to charge your default payment method or another payment method on file after any applicable free trial. Your subscription continues until canceled. If you do not wish to continue for $3.99/month plus any taxes, you may cancel anytime by visiting Your Memberships and Subscriptions. We will share your name, zip code, and e-mail address with Washington Post.

The Washington Post website lists, after a four-week trial at $1, the price for the “basic digital” edition moves to $10 every four weeks. The price for a “premium digital subscription” is $15 every four weeks. The premium edition includes digital subscriptions, which can be shared with other people.

Can subscribers to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USAToday or the Financial Times get a similar deal? Apparently not. And so, The Washington Post does indeed have a special relationship with Amazon.

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