By Helen Coster
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Washington Post editorial page editor David Shipley is leaving the paper as its opinion section shifts its focus to supporting and defending the topics of personal liberties and free markets, owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos wrote in a memo to staff on Wednesday.
The section will cover other topics too, but will not publish viewpoints that oppose those two pillars, Bezos wrote. Shipley declined Bezos’ offer to stay on, Bezos wrote.
The move – which reflects the Post’s narrowing of focus from a general-interest opinion section that reflected a wide swath of views – follows the paper’s decision in October to stop endorsing presidential candidates, a practice it had employed for 36 years.
That decision, which Bezos defended in an October 28 essay, led to condemnation from Post columnists and others.
In his memo to staff on Wednesday, Bezos framed the shift in both ideological and practical terms, writing that these viewpoints are underserved in the market.
“I am of America and for America, and proud to be so,” Bezos wrote. “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.”
Days before the Post declined to endorse a presidential candidate in October, Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, blocked his newspaper from publishing a planned endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, which led the paper’s editorials editor to resign.
The media industry is navigating a challenging climate as it covers the second presidency of Republican Donald Trump, who has stepped up his legal threats against news outlets.
The Washington Post’s opinion section, like that of newspapers generally, is separate from its news-gathering division, which focuses on fact-based reporting.
(Reporting by Helen Coster; Editing by Rod Nickel)
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