Washington Post staffers outraged at Jeff Bezos’ stunning plan for opinion pages that prompted top editor to quit

“I have a feeling this isn’t gonna bring back the 250K subs,” one Post reporter wrote in the paper’s Slack channel on Wednesday. The Washington Post’s billionaire owner Jeff Bezos left many of his paper’s staffers enraged on Wednesday after he announced a shocking new direction for the paper’s opinion content that resulted in a top editor resigning.

Bezos’ latest mandate comes amid concerns among the publication’s journalists that the Amazon founder is currying favor with Donald Trump by softening the Post’s coverage of the anti-media president, which began when he blocked the editorial board’s endorsement of then-Vice President Kamala Harris last October.

In a memo sent to staff Wednesday morning, Bezos noted that he was letting them “know about a change coming to our opinion pages,” which revolved around what topics columnists would now be allowed to write about. “We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets,” he noted. “We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”.

Bezos added: “There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader’s doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views. Today, the internet does that job.”.

Bezos added that opinion editor David Shipley did not embrace this decision to focus on the two topics, prompting his resignation. Shipley was the editor who decided not to publish an editorial cartoon showing Bezos on bended knee before Trump, prompting the cartoonist to quit.

“I offered David Shipley, whom I greatly admire, the opportunity to lead this new chapter. I suggested to him that if the answer wasn’t ‘hell yes,’ then it had to be ‘no.’ After careful consideration, David decided to step away,” Bezos stated. “This is a significant shift, it won’t be easy, and it will require 100% commitment — I respect his decision. We’ll be searching for a new Opinion Editor to own this new direction.”.

He concluded: “I’m confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America. I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I’m excited for us together to fill that void.”. Needless to say, especially since the paper’s journalists have been begging Bezos to visit the newsroom and restore “trust that has been lost” under his watch, the ultra-wealthy businessman’s sudden and shocking mandate was not well received.

“I still have not felt encroachment on my journalism on the news side of coverage, but if Bezos tries interfering with the news side I will be quitting immediately and letting you know,” he added. Other Post staffers told The Independent that the announcement was “being received badly” by the newsroom, with many reporters expressing their “anger” at Bezos’ further meddling in the editorial process of the paper.

“I have a feeling this isn’t gonna bring back the 250K subs,” one reporter wrote in the Post’s Slack channel, referencing the quarter-million readers that canceled their subscriptions after Bezos pulled the Harris endorsement days before the 2024 election.

The Independent has reached out to the Post for comment. While staffers are outraged over this move, MAGA world was elated over Bezo’s new mandate for the Post’s opinion pages. “He says that viewpoints which disagree with those positions will be written elsewhere. David Shipley has stepped down as the paper’s opinion editor as a result of the shift,” far-right provacatuer Charlie Kirk posted on X (formerly Twitter.).

“Bezos also affirms that he is “of America” and wants to celebrate these uniquely American values that have lead to innovation and prosperity. He believes these viewpoints are underserved in the current newspaper environment (he’s right),” he continued. “Good! The culture is changing rapidly for the better.”.