Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos announced on Wednesday that The Washington Post, which he owns, will no longer publish opinions opposing "personal freedoms and free markets" on the opinion pages. This has caused many employees at the newspaper to go into a frenzy, reports The Independent.
”Massive overstep by Jeff Bezos on Washington Post's opinion pages today – making it clear that dissenting opinions will not be published or tolerated there”, writes Jeff Stein, economics reporter at the newspaper, in a post on X.
”I still haven't felt restricted in my journalism on the news side, but if Bezos tries to interfere with the news section, I'll quit immediately and let you know”, he adds.
Last year, Bezos stopped The Washington Post from supporting the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, just days before the American election. This led to 250,000 people cancelling their subscriptions.
Several employees tell The Independent that Wednesday's announcement has been "badly received" and that many reporters have expressed anger at Jeff Bezos again interfering with the newspaper's editorial work. Opinion editor David Shipley has resigned as a result of the decision.
"I have a feeling that this won't get back the 250,000 subscribers", writes an employee in an internal chat, according to The Independent.
Tesla billionaire and presidential adviser Elon Musk views the decision positively:
"Bravo, Jeff Bezos", he writes on X.
