Opinion Bounds in the Age of the Internet: A Statement of Discontent in the Post’s Opinions Editor David Shipley
Affirmative or explicit boundaries for their opinion coverage are a feature of all news outlets. Stories that conflict with the news reporting are often published by opinion writers. Newspaper owners usually allow their editorial staff to make those decisions in part to make clear their independence. Bezos’ direct involvement raises questions about how independent the Post is from an owner with many other financial interests. In current cultural parlance, terms like “free speech” can also be defined in ways that include direct government regulation of speech.
The Post Opinions Editor David Shipley resigned after being recruited by Bezos to oversee the paper’s new sections.
Bezos wrote to his staff that they’d be writing every day in support and defense of personal liberties and free markets. We’ll cover other topics, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.
Newspaper op-ed sections have incorporated opposing views for years. The term “op-ed” is an abbreviation for pieces running opposite the editorial pages that often have a conflict with the publisher’s line. Bezos felt that the practice was outdated.
“It used to be that a local newspaper would provide a broad-based opinion section that would cover all views, even if it wasn’t always in the best interest of the paper,” Bezos said. “Today, the internet does that job.”
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According to an attendee who spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not have permission to speak publicly, Shipley told opinion writers he didn’t know what was in store.
Bezos justified his decision in the memo to staffers. “I am of America and for America, and proud to be so,” he wrote. America’s success has been due to freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else.
Later in the day, Murray sent a memo to the newsroom to underscore the point: “The independent and unbiased work of The Post’s newsroom remains unchanged, and we will continue to pursue engaging impactful journalism without fear or favor.” (Murray and Bezos did not reply to requests for comment.)
Post Associate Editor David Maraniss, a legendary journalist whose association with the newspaper stretches back more than four decades, wrote on Bluesky that he would never write for it again as long as Bezos owns it.
The six people NPR spoke with have direct knowledge of the event. They were given the ability to speak anonymously because they were not authorized to speak about internal matters at the paper.
More recently, Bezos’ decision in October to kill the Harris editorial caused a furor inside and outside the paper, leading editorial writers to resign and more than 300,000 people to cancel their digital subscriptions in a matter of days. (The Post says it has been able to win some subscribers back and garner some new subscribers in the opening weeks of Trump’s second term.)
The Wall Street Journal’s pro market pages have had the same policy for a long period of time. As with the decision not to publish the endorsement of Harris, Shipley’s arguments fell on deaf ears.
Bezos praised Shipley and wrote that he offered the editor to lead the reformed sections. “I suggested to him if the answer wasn’t ‘hell yes,’ then it had to be ‘no,’” Bezos wrote.
The Post has aggressively covered the new administration. But Bezos appears to have embraced the president’s return to power. Bezos paid $1 million for Trump’s inaugural fund. He and his fiancée traveled to Florida to socialize with the Trumps. And, along with other digital chieftains, Bezos sat behind the president as he was sworn in for a second term.
Two Pulitzer Prizes and two Loeb Awards have been given to the section in the two and a half years that Shipley has been there. His standing was undermined by Bezos’ recent decisions, especially over the Harris endorsement.
When Shipley decided to withhold a cartoon from the Pulitzer-winning staffer Ann Telnaes about Bezos from publication, he told colleagues he believed he was making a decision on the merits, not pulling his punches. The cartoon depicted Bezos abasing himself along with other tech titans before Trump.
“Not every editorial judgement is a reflection of a malign force,” Shipley said in a statement shared with NPR. My decision was based on the fact that we had already scheduled another column, which was a satire, and published a column on the same topic as the cartoon. The only bias was against repetition.”
Since the news broke about the editorial, veteran talent from the opinion and news sides have left the paper. Post journalists left for the Atlantic, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and CNN among other outlets.
Will Lewis was celebrated for the change in direction on Wednesday. The Journal is owned by Murdoch and Lewis was in that role for six years. He’d like to see the same approach at the Post.
Bezos hired Lewis, in significant part, due to his belief the British journalist could build better bridges to Trump and to conservatives. Lewis served as an executive of Murdoch for a decade and before that was editor of the conservative Telegraph in the U.K.
“I am very excited about this new clarity and transparency, and cannot wait to see it brought to life in our opinion section. Every Day,” Lewis said in a note to staff. “This is not about siding with any political party. It is important to know what we stand for as a newspaper. This is a critical part of serving as a premier news publication for all Americans.
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on VR, online platforms, and free expression. Adi has covered video games, biohacking, and more for The Verge since 2011.
While Bezos is the owner of the Post, Patrick Soon-Shiong is the owner of the Los Angeles Times.
Fortunately, America is facing many urgent questions that fit Bezos’ new, personally issued directive. Are major tech companies like Amazon monopolies that distort fair market competition, and should the US government pursue sweeping antitrust cases that could break them up? The administration is led by a man who received a $1 million donation from an online company and was attended by Bezos, the richest man in the world. There are many possibilities.