Leading editor throws there
Bezos prohibits certain opinions in his newspaper
26.02.2025 – 8:02 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Even before the US election, Jeff Bezo’s influence his newspaper. Now the billionaire intervenes even more into everyday editorial life.
Amazon founder and “Washington Post” owner Jeff Bezos has more influence on the editorial work of his newspaper and sets specifications for the pages of opinion. “I am writing to you to inform you about a change on our opinion pages,” published Bezos on platform X a letter that he sent to the editorial team.
It continues: “We will write every day to support and defend two pillars: personal freedoms and free markets. Of course we will also treat other topics, but we leave opposite points of view to publication by others.” The previous department manager David SHIPLEY therefore left the newspaper, said Bezos. He had opened him openly and continued to practice the job – if he could get excited about the new direction. SHIPLEY terminated instead.
“I am convinced that free markets and personal freedoms are right for America. I also believe that these points of view are not sufficiently taken into account in the current market of ideas and news opinions,” said his employees in Bezos. “I look forward to filling this gap together.” The newspaper itself also reported on the developments and wrote that Bezos is listening to the pages of opinion in a “libertarian direction”.
The traditional sheet “Washington Post” has belonged to the multimillionaire Bezos since 2013. Before the US election in November, he had banned an election recommendation for Donald Trump’s opponent Kamala Harris shortly before publication, triggering criticism within the editorial team and in the readership.
At the beginning of the year, the US cartoonist and Pulitzer award winner Ann Telnaes left the “Washington Post” in a dispute over one of her drawings. Other journalists also left the newspaper. In January, more than 400 “Washington Post” employees in a letter called for a joint meeting with Bezos to talk about the leadership of the newspaper. Bezos was one of the guests in the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.
Even after the publication of the letter, criticism from the editorial team was once again loud. The business journalist Jeff Stein, for example, announced to X to leave the newspaper in the event of an influence in his department.
