Barely months after killing Presidential
endorsements, Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos has announced another change: a “turn away from a “broad-based opinion section” toward one that focuses
on conservative principles.
This news was accompanied by the resignation of opinions editor David Shipley. The Post is now searching for a
replacement.
What is going on?
“We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free
markets,” Bezos wrote in an email to Post staffers that also appeared on X. “We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left
to be published by others.”
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Bezos continued: “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.”
Cynics might question if Bezos’ ambitions in
outer space are connected to this apparent shift to the right. But William Lewis, publisher and CEO of the Post, said the shift is not about “siding with any political party. This is
about being crystal clear about what we stand for as a newspaper.”
Meanwhile, Executive Editor Matt Murray informed the staff that Bezos has not signaled any
intent to interfere with news coverage itself.