Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos announces he will limit his columns to certain opinions

By The New Obs with AFP

Published on February 26, 2025 at 10:02 p.m.

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Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos announced on Wednesday, February 26, that the newspaper's opinion pages would focus on defending "personal freedoms" and the "free market" economy, and that views contrary to these would no longer be published.

"We will write every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal freedoms and free markets," and therefore against economic regulation, Jeff Bezos wrote in a note to the newspaper's teams on Wednesday. "We will cover other topics of course, but points of view opposing these pillars will be published by others" than the "Washington Post," he added.

According to him, the points of view he defends "are underserved in today's market of ideas and current opinions." He says in his note shared on his X account that he is looking forward to "filling this void together" with the newspaper's teams.

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The decision prompted the departure of WaPo's opinion editor, David Shipley, and Jeff Bezos announced that the newspaper was looking for a new editor.

The decision by the founder of Amazon, highly unusual for a daily newspaper of the reputation of the Washington Post, is part of a movement of greater interference on his part in the decisions of the newspaper of reference of the American capital, which he bought in 2013. Before the presidential election in November, Jeff Bezos had notably prevented the Washington Post from calling for a vote for Kamala Harris , while voting recommendations by editorial boards are a tradition in the United States. The businessman, who during Donald Trump's first term opposed him on defense contracts, has made a marked rapprochement with the Republican in recent months , and was notably present among the front rows at his inauguration on January 20.

White House communications director Steven Cheung appeared to rejoice in the announcement on X. On his official account, the official posted an animated image of the "Grinch" , a character by American author Dr Seuss, displaying a mischievous and mocking smile. Jeff Bezos' defense of free markets is, however, at odds with Donald Trump's declared desire to impose import tariffs.

Elon Musk, an ally of the Republican president, also welcomed the decision of the boss of the Washington Post. "Bravo Jeff Bezos!" wrote the multi-billionaire on his platform X. The bosses of SpaceX and BlueOrigin are both competing to win public contracts in the space sector.

Left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders denounced "oligarchic control of the media" and the fact that "the second richest guy in the world" had decreed that the editorial pages of the "Washington Post" would move "toward the Trump right."

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