After weeks of discussions between Bezos, Shipley, and Post chief executive Will Lewis, the paper's owner told Shipley that "if the answer wasn't 'hell yes,' then it had to be 'no,'" Bezos wrote in his note to staffers.
The newspaper's opinion section has published views that represent both the political right and left under Shipley's leadership, though the editor refused to publish a cartoon that showed Bezos bowing to President Donald Trump last month—a move that led cartoonist Ann Telnaes to resign.
Bezos said Wednesday that going forward, viewpoints that oppose libertarian ideals and what the owner views as free markets "will be left to be published by others."
Lewis claimed in a note to staff members that the change to the opinion section is not meant to signal that the newspaper is "siding with any political party"—but with Bezos having recently attended Trump's inauguration and his company Amazon having donated $1 million to Trump, former Post columnist Margaret Sullivan wrote that Bezos' move is "all about getting on board with" the president.
"It's unclear what will happen to such excellent left-of-center columnists as Catherine Rampell, Eugene Robinson, and EJ Dionne," wrote Sullivan at The Guardian. "And it's unclear to what extent this ruling eventually will affect the paper's hard-news coverage, which so far has been unbowed in covering the chaotic rollout of the new Trump administration."
"What is clear is that Bezos no longer wants to own an independent news organization. He wants a megaphone and a political tool that will benefit his own commercial interests," she added.
At least two reporters for the venerated newspaper said that if Bezos' personal views begin interfering with journalists' ability to report on the Trump administration effectively, they plan to leave the Post.
Chief economics reporter Jeff Stein called Bezos' directive a "massive encroachment" into the opinion section.
"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," Stein said on the social media platform X.
Media critic Jeff Cohen told Common Dreams that Bezos' decision represents "the blatant and public intervention of a media owner into news content"—as well as "sheer hypocrisy" by a billionaire who purports to support "free markets."
"Amazon, Whole Foods, and other Bezos companies receive many billions in subsidies and contracts from government—federal, state, and local," Cohen pointed out.
While Bezos canceled plans to endorse Harris "so the paper would not take sides on the issues," said Matthew Chapman of Raw Story, "now the explicit rule is: The paper must take sides in favor of policy that makes Jeff Bezos rich."
"Bezos is not even hiding it anymore," said Chapman. "He wants The Washington Post to be a propaganda arm for his own personal opinions. Something he swore up and down when he bought the paper he would not be doing."
