washington post
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE
Source: Chip Somodevilla / Getty / Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos continues to find ways to capitulate to Donald Trump, out of fear Orange Mussolini won’t bully him.
Freedom of the press was under attack during the first Trump presidency. Now, for the unfortunate second term, Jeff Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, is helping silence voices that may offer dissenting views against Felon 47.
Spotted on Variety, Bezos announced he is making more changes to the Washington Post, revamping the opinion section. He claims it will now focus on “support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.”
Whatever that means.
According to a ridiculously long post the billionaire shared on his personal X account, he offered David Shipley, the now former Washington Post editorial opinion page editor, “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.”
Bezos continued, “After careful consideration, David decided to step away.” As such, “We’ll be searching for a new Opinion Editor to own this new direction.”
The Blue Origin founder who purchased the Washington Post in 2013 added that the opinion section will still “cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”
Shipley acknowledged his time with the Washington Post had ended in an email sent to his now former colleagues obtained by the New York Times.
“It is with both sadness and gratitude that I write to let you know that I have decided to leave The Post. This is a conclusion I reached after reflection on how I can best move forward in the profession I love,” Shipley said.
Social Media Is Not Feeling The Decision
As expected, Bezos’ decision is not sitting well with folks. Jeff Stein, the Post’s chief economics reporter, slammed Bezos’ move in a post on X: “Massive encroachment by Jeff Bezos into The Washington Post’s opinion section today — makes clear dissenting views will not be published or tolerated there. 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.”
Another post on X read, “Who do you think you are, Jeff? The American people–workers, consumers, and everyday citizens–are the reason you became a billionaire. And now, instead of using your platform to support a fair and balanced discourse, you’re turning The Washington Post into a mouthpiece for policies that make the rich even richer while undermining workers’ rights, economic fairness, and government protections that keep corporate greed in check.”
Welp.
Jeff Bezos deserves all the smoke since he wants to kiss Trump’s ring.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: The Washington Post / Getty
The Washington Post has become the latest so-called progressive publication to feel the wrath of the fall-out following its decision not to endorse a presidential candidate in this uncomfortably tight race between Vice President Kamala Harris and the orangey-white nationalist who has normalized slinging lies and bigotry from the political stage.
According to anonymous courses cited in an NPR report, more than 200,000 people canceled their subscriptions to the Post after the publication announced it is “returning to its roots” by staying neutral in the race to the White House and declining to endorse Harris or Donald Trump.
if you’re in line to cancel your washington post subscription, stay in line pic.twitter.com/y2DEOSrVl0
— Florida Chris (@chrislongview) October 28, 2024
It’s not terribly surprising that the Post is basically hemorrhaging subscribers, considering folks on social media put out the call to send a message to the Post and its owner, Jeff Bezos, that its readers won’t stick around if it won’t make an endorsement in an election this crucial.
BREAKING: Jeff Bezos is forcing the Washington Post NOT to endorse Kamala Harris for President — just in case trump wins the election.
🚨EVERYBODY CANCEL YOUR WASHINGTON POST SUBSCRIPTIONS NOW. 🚨
FUCK YOU, JEFF BEZOS. pic.twitter.com/joQOvl5H8z
— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) October 25, 2024
From Variety:
On Friday, Washington Post CEO and publisher William Lewis wrote in an article on the paper’s website, “The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.” The Post has endorsed a candidate in every presidential election since 1976, with the exception of 1988. Lewis, who joined the post in November 2023, was formerly CEO of Dow Jones & Co. and publisher of the Wall Street Journal.
As first reported by NPR, Bezos — who bought the Washington Post in 2013 — had recently decided that the newspaper would not endorse either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump in the 2024 election. The paper’s editorial board had already drafted an endorsement of Harris. Some observers (and, evidently, thousands of subscribers) interpreted the move as an attempt by Bezos to avoid getting targeted for attacks by Trump.
The fallout for the Post comes just a few days after the Los Angeles Times lost its editorial chief, who resigned over the publication’s relatively new owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, ordered the Times’ editorial board not to endorse Harris after endorsing a Democratic president in every election since 2008. Journalist Mariel Garza said in her resignation letter that it mattered that the largest newspaper in California declined to endorse “in a race this important,” and that “it matters that we won’t even be straight with people about it.”
“It makes us look craven and hypocritical, maybe even a bit sexist and racist,” Garza wrote. “How could we spend eight years railing against Trump and the danger his leadership poses to the country, and then fail to endorse the perfectly decent Democrat challenger — who we previously endorsed for the U.S. Senate?”
Yeah — this is the wrong time for major news outlets to choose silence in the name of pseudo-neutrality and objectivity. The choice between a non-fascist woman who will have worked in all three branches of government if elected and the guy from The Apprentice who spouts non-stop hate speech and propaganda is clear. The Post and the Times needed to do the right thing.
-
Pages