• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, Yesterday

No matter how one tries to avoid it, bad news keeps popping up. Today, it was the dismaying report that Jonathan Capeheart has resigned as a Washington Post columnist.

Capeheart is a steady and very accessible voice. Granted, his criticisms of President Trump have gone over the edge. But he is an astute observer of the scene and an enjoyable presence. 

He took a buyout on Monday, according to a post by Axios. This occurred after CEO Will Lewis pronounced that anyone who could not support the Post’s mission should accept a buyout and leave. So Capeheart did. 

Of course, Capeheart has a very high profile on TV. He appears as a commentator on PBS with David Brooks and is the co-host of MSNBC’s The Weekend. He will survive very nicely without the Post. 

But what is this doing to the paper? (We still call it that, although we read it online.)

Fellow columnist Joe Davidson recently resigned after one of his columns was spiked. 

Ruth Marcus quit in March, claiming that Post CEO Will Lewis killed a column she wrote. The subject: the effort by owner Jeff Bezos to reposition the opinion section of the Post to reflect a pro-market (and presumably more Trump) orientation. 

Eugene Robinson resigned shortly after Marcus, saying, “The announced ‘significant shift’ in our section’s mission has spurred me to decide that it’s time for my next chapter.” 

And, earlier this year, Jennifer Rubin resigned to start a publication called The Contrarian with the former White House operative Norm Eisen. 

Let’s not forget, Ann Telnaes, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, who resigned over the rejection of her sketch, which is now being widely circulated on the internet. 

We apologize if we’ve forgotten anybody. 

Despite this loss of columnists, the Post still does some very fine reporting. Can that continue?