WaPo Employees Collectively Struggling To Process Jeff Bezos’ Editorial Shakeup In Defense Of ‘Free Markets’

Jeff Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post, provoked ire among his staffers Wednesday after he announced a new directive for the opinion section to begin defending “personal liberties and free markets.”

Bezos said in a Wednesday announcement that the opinion section will allow no criticisms of these two pillars since they have been critical to America’s success, prompting opinion editor David Shipley to step down. A handful of staffers at the Post publicly threatened to quit if Bezos dared to make any changes to the news section’s coverage.

Jeff Stein, the chief economics reporter at the Post, said the new announcement is a “massive encroachment” on the opinion section and threatened to quit if Bezos “tries interfering” with the news section.

“Massive encroachment by Jeff Bezos into The Washington Post’s opinion section today—makes clear dissenting views will not be published or tolerated there I still have not felt encroachment on my journalism on the news side of coverage, but if Bezos tries interfering with the news side I will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 X.

The Post’s military affairs reporter Dan Lamothe adamantly stated he will not “shift coverage” of the Defense Department and other matters relating to his beat.

“Anyone reading regularly knows we’ve landed a series of scoops in recent days about the Defense Department. I’m not shifting my coverage. That is my job. I have no expectation that will change. But should I be told otherwise, I will need a Plan B,” Lamothe said.

The paper’s White House reporter Dan Diamond and video producer Dave Jorgenson made similar threats by vowing to “speak out and leave” if Bezos “interferes” in their work.