CNN
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Current and former Washington Post staffers are rebelling against Jeff Bezos after he announced a “significant” editorial shift that will see the paper’s Opinion section focus almost exclusively on personal liberties and free markets.
In a rare public announcement, Bezos, who owns the Post, on Wednesday shared that the paper’s editorial section would pivot to publish daily opinion stories “in support and defense of” the two “pillars,” emphasizing that while the section’s coverage would also include other subjects, “viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”
While the Post’s reporting is still considered top-notch, the paper itself has hit a series of roadblocks in recent years. Years-long financial woes worsened after readers terminated subscriptions to protest Bezos’ involvement. A new publisher, appointed by Bezos last year, has proven unpopular with the newsroom. And Post staffers themselves have not shied away from voicing their discontent, either resigning or taking jobs with rivals.
Adding friction to the relationship between Bezos and the journalists at his newspaper is the billionaire’s increasingly apparent cozy relationship with President Donald Trump.
Included in the Wednesday announcement was the news that David Shipley, the Opinion section editor, had resigned from his role. Shipley was among the editors who navigated the fallout from Bezos’ disastrous October decision to block a pro-Kamala Harris endorsement that resulted in the paper losing 250,000 subscribers — reportedly over Shipley’s objection.
The Bezos announcement sent shockwaves through the Post, alarming current and former staffers alike.
Marty Baron, the Post’s revered former executive editor under whom the outlet won 11 Pulitzer Prizes, told CNN in a statement that Bezos has ironically undermined personal liberties by “cravenly yielding to a president who shows no respect for liberty,” writing that the billionaire — whose holdings also include a sizeable chunk of Amazon and space technology company Blue Origin — “has prioritized those commercial interests over The Post, and he is betraying The Post’s longstanding principles to do so.”
“It was only weeks ago that The Post described itself as providing coverage for ‘all of America,’” Baron wrote. “Now its opinion pages will be open to only some of America, those who think exactly as he does.”
Meanwhile, Cameron Barr, a former senior managing editor for the Post, shared in a LinkedIn post that he would end his “professional association” with the Post, saying that Bezos’ changes were “an unacceptable erosion of its commitment to publishing a healthy diversity of opinion and argument.”
Current staffers echoed those sentiments. Philip Bump, who writes the “How to Read This Chart” newsletter at the Post, asked Bluesky “what the actual f**k” five minutes after the announcement went out. Post tech reporter Drew Harwell on Bluesky shared a summary of comments on the story generated by the Post’s own AI tool that highlighted “significant discontent” from readers and “a strong sentiment of betrayal among long-time subscribers.” And, tellingly, David Maraniss, an editor at the paper, said on Bluesky that he would “never write for (the Post) again as long as (Bezos is) the owner.”
“An absolute abandonment of the principles of accountability of the powerful, justice, democracy, human rights, and accurate information that previously animated the section in favor of a white male billionaire’s self-interested agenda,” Amanda Katz, who recently parted ways with the Post’s Opinion section, said of the overhaul on Bluesky.
Though Bezos’ changes exclusively target the Opinion section, at least two reporters publicly assured readers that they would not tolerate overreach into the newsroom. Post economy reporter Jeff Stein said on X. that the changes are a “massive encroachment by Jeff Bezos.”
“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,” Stein wrote.
And Dan Lamothe, who covers military affairs for the Post, said via X that “I’m not shifting my coverage.”
Hours after Bezos’ initial announcement, Matt Murray, the Post’s executive editor, sent staffers an email to assuage rising concerns. Though Murray reminded Post employees that Bezos is well within his right to enact changes in the Opinion section — which is “traditionally the provenance of the owner at news organizations” — he also emphasized that the newsroom will “continue to pursue engaging, impactful journalism without fear or favor.”
CEO and publisher Will Lewis similarly wrote to Post staffers, saying the change was “not about siding with any political party,” but, rather, “about being crystal clear about what we stand for as a newspaper.”
“Doing this is a critical part of serving as a premier news publication across America and for all Americans,” Lewis said, echoing Bezos’ mandate.
But New York magazine reported that Lewis told Bezos that the Opinion overhaul would likely hurt the ailing paper, an especially alarming prospect given the section’s place in Lewis’ plan to revitalize the paper.
Already, some readers said they would cancel their subscriptions in protest. Colin Woodard, who directs the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy’s Nationhood Lab, said on LinkedIn that he would be “reallocating my subscription budget to sources that uphold liberal democratic values and the press’s role in protecting them.” Mark Lemley, a professor at Stanford Law School, also took to LinkedIn, saying, “if you haven’t unsubscribed, it’s time.”
Bezos is, of course, not the only billionaire media owner making sweeping changes to their outlets. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who owns the Los Angeles Times, has teased a bias meter on news stories and continues to work on a conservative overhaul of the Times’ Opinion section, both of which have been critiqued as kowtowing to Trump.
Other major outlets have similarly been accused of currying the president’s favor recently. ABC News paid $15 million to settle a defamation lawsuit from Trump that many media experts believed the outlet could have won. And CBS News staffers have also expressed alarm that their parent, Paramount Global, is looking to settle a lawsuit from Trump that they call bogus.
“What Bezos is doing today runs counter to what he professed, and actually practiced, during my tenure at The Post,” Baron wrote in his statement. “Now I couldn’t be more sad and disgusted.”