Posted on 02/26/2025 9:27:14 AM PST by Red Badger
PoliticsJUST IN: WaPo Reporters Melt Down, Rage Quit The Paper Over Bezos’ New DirectivePublished 2 hours ago on February 26, 2025By Mark Steffen The Washington Post’s chief opinion editor chose to pick up his ball and go home after Jeff Bezos handed down new instructions ordering his department to begin running pro-America, pro-freedom columns each morning.
The Amazon founder and Post owner shared on social media on Wednesday morning a note he recently sent to all WaPo staff about the change. In it, Bezos explains that, each day, the paper’s opinion pages will write “in support and defense of” personal liberties and free markets, two unassailable elements of American life that he believes should be universally respected.
“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,” his note read.
One person who wasn’t happy with the change was David Shipley, the department’s former executive editor.
“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. 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,” Bezos said.
Shipley had been manning the opinion pages at the Washington Post since July 2022 when he took over for the late, Pulitzer Prize-winning Fred Hiatt. His decision to quit prompted economics reporter Jeff Stein to threaten his own resignation if Bezos tried a similar move inside the news department.
“Massive encroachment by Jeff Bezos into The Washington Post’s opinion section today – makes clear dissenting views will not be published or tolerated there,” Stein wrote on X. “I still have not felt encroachment on my journalism on the news side of coverage, but if Bezos tries interfering with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.”
Bezos, at one point the world’s richest man thanks to his decades of toiling to turn Amazon into the e-commerce juggernaut it is today, has no doubt about his decision.
“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,” his note concluded.
Stein’s tantrum was a savory moment for legacy media critics to pile on and remind him that the veneer of unbiased journalism is nearly worn off completely. If he leaves his perch at Washington, D.C.’s flagship paper, he may not land on his feet, one user joked.
“Have you considered learning to code, Jeff?” they asked him.
Note to Opinion Page Editor. It's his paper, not yours.
Urinalists.
the wapo staff sound a lot like fedgov employees
they think they are the owners
Minus the second-hand smoke, I would have loved to work in the office of Sterling Cooper around secretarial supervisor Joan Holloway (Mad Men reference for those not familiar with the show lol)
Good news just keeps on coming
“pro-America, pro-freedom columns each morning.”
The horror!
The horror, the horror. #3
Further Powers Booth meme! Well…bye!
The Washington comPost is irrelevant anyway so Bezos’ self serving change of heart won’t sway anybody’s opinion.
What needs to go is the most evil and the cheerleader of the fake news industry: the NYT.
Propagandists.
Trump and Musk have set an example of how to discipline a left wing organization. Corporate CEOs are starting to follow the lead. The other day Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan Chase chewed out his lazy, overpaid staff as well.
As they say in South Germany,”Dawnker Shane”
As they say in South Germany,”Dawnker Shane”
I recall Central Park in fall
How you tore your dress, what a mess
I confess that’s not all
“Encroached” is an interesting term for an employee to use with respect to his firm’s owner. It’s much more natural for an ex-employee. Make it so.
How much do you want to bet that in 2 years the WP will no longer be losing money.
If Bezos wants to keep getting lucrative contracts for Blue Horizons, then the better print pro-US stories.
When was the last time the Washington Post had a pro-America, pro-freedom column?
War of 1812....................
It’s just Business. They offer Pasta or Potatoes, depending on what is selling and do not care.
Of course “selling” is also about sending millions (billions) to the purveyors. So right now the Pasta buyers are ducking low while the investigations are just starting on corrupt semolina trafficking and the Potatoes are in vogue, with the main buyers being the taxpaying electorate who financed all the rotten spaghetti.
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