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WaPo opinion editor David Shipley out as Bezos forges new editorial direction

The Washington Post is looking for a new opinion editor to advance billionaire owner Jeff Bezos’s plan to focus the section on “free markets and personal liberties.”

Bezos sent a letter to employees Wednesday detailing his new plan for the Pulitzer Prize winning publication he’s owned since 2013. He shared that note with the public on fellow billionaire Elon Musk‘s social media platform X.

“We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets,” the Amazon founder wrote. “We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”

Bezos said he offered to allow current opinion section director David Shipley to stay on board if he agreed to the paper’s new agenda. Since Shipley’s answer wasn’t an enthusiastic “hell yes” it was time for him to ship out, according to Bezos.

Bezos stated that he’s “excited” to fill the void left by Shipley’s departure.

David Shipley of The Washington Post react as he learns his team has won three 2024 Pulitzer Prizes during a newsroom gathering in Washington, DC on Monday, May 6, 2024. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
David Shipley of The Washington Post react as he learns his team has won three 2024 Pulitzer Prizes during a newsroom gathering in Washington, DC on Monday, May 6, 2024. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The Washington Post ruffled feathers prior to the 2024 presidential election by announcing it wouldn’t make a presidential endorsement. The paper — which operates under the slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness” — said it lost 250,000 subscribers following that decision. Bezos later donated $1 million to President Trump’s inauguration fund and received VIP access to the 47th President’s swearing-in ceremony.

According to Bezos, the role of newspapers has changed.

“There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader’s doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views,” he wrote in his Tuesday letter.

Bezos said the Internet now provides that service.

“I’m confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America,” he wrote to his workers Tuesday.  “I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion.”

Shipley, 61, didn’t immediately address his former boss’s decision to rethink the Washington Post’s editorial pages. He previously worked for the New York Times and the New Republic.



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