Amazon founder Jeff Bezos recently announced changes to the Washington Post newspaper’s opinion pages to limit what he described as viewpoints opposing “personal liberties and free markets.” This is the first big change that Jeff Bezos, one of the richest people on the Earth, has made to the paper since he bought it in 2013. Since purchasing Washington Post in the year 2013, Amazon.com founder Bezos has remained largely hands off of editorial coverage until recently.
The change received appreciation from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who quoted Jeff Bezo’s post and wrote: ‘Bravo’ tagging Jeff Bezos in the post.
The change comes after in October 2024, Washington Post made what has been termed as a controversial decision to not endorse a candidate for the US President, after it had initially drafted a piece in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris. The Post’s union said that the decision not to publish was made by the publication’s owner Jeff Bezos.
The shift, which Bezos announced last week in a post on Twitter, resulted in the resignation of the newspaper’s opinion section editor David Shipley. Shipley joined the Post in 2022 after earlier stints at the New Republic, the New York Times and Bloomberg News.
Here’s the letter sent by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as shared by him on Twitter.
I’m writing to let you know about a change coming to our opinion pages.
We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.
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. Today, the internet does that job.
I am of America and for America, and proud to be so. Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America’s success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical — it minimizes coercion — and practical — it drives creativity, invention, and prosperity.
I offered David Shipley, whom I greatly admire, the opportunity to lead this new chapter. I suggested to him that if the answer wasn’t “hell yes,” then it had to be “no.” After careful consideration, David decided to step away. This is a significant shift, it won’t be easy, and it will require 100% commitment — I respect his decision. We’ll be searching for a new Opinion Editor to own this new direction.
I’m confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America. I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I’m excited for us together to fill that void.
Jeff