This section does not include perspectives against individual freedom and the free market, Bezos said in a staff memo.
David Shipley, editor of the Washington Post, has left the paper as the opinion section shifts his focus to supporting and advocating for the topic of personal freedom and free markets, and the owner and founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos told staff in a memo.
This section will cover other topics as well, but will not disclose any perspectives against these two pillars, Bezos wrote in a staff note on Wednesday. Shipley refused Bezos’ offer to stay, Bezos wrote.
The move reflects a narrow focus from the general interest opinion section, reflecting a broader view, but follows the paper’s decision in October to cease decades of practice in favor of presidential candidates.
In his note to staff on Wednesday, Bezos framed the shifts in both ideological and practical terms, writing that these perspectives are not being served in the market.
“I am America, I am proud to be that for America,” Bezos writes. “Our country didn’t come here by being typical, and most of America’s success was free in the economic realm and anywhere else.”
The change was defended by CEO and publisher William Lewis, who joined the newspaper in early 2024 after working at an outlet managed by Rupert Murdoch.
“This is not about surveillance with political parties. It’s about being clear about what we represent as a newspaper,” Lewis wrote in a note to staff seen in Reuters.
Bezos is one of several high-tech executives who have been considered an overture to President Donald Trump in recent months. He sat prominently during Trump’s inauguration, highlighting the shift links with the president.
However, growing intimacy has filled some subscribers.
The newspaper lost more than 200,000 digital subscriptions after a move not to support the presidential candidate. The decision led to three members of the Post’s editorial board resigning in protest, according to a newspaper report.
“A massive violation of today’s Washington Post’s opinion section makes it clear that no objections will be made public or tolerated there,” newspaper White House economic reporter Jeff Stein said in a post in X.
The opinion section of the post is separate from the news collection department, which focuses on fact-based reports.