Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, center, shown at the inauguration ceremony of President Trump at the U.S. Capitol in January.
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More than 75,000 digital subscribers to The Washington Post have cancelled since its owner, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced on Wednesday that he would radically overhaul the paper’s opinion pages to reflect libertarian priorities and to exclude opposing points of view.
Wednesday’s announcement led to the immediate resignation of Opinions Editor David Shipley. He had vainly sought to persuade Bezos to drop the plans, according to a person with direct knowledge. Shipley did not respond to requests for comment.
Bezos’ decision also prompted an outcry from longtime Post figures, including Associate Editor David Maraniss and former Executive Editor Marty Baron. Baron called the move “craven” and told Zeteo News that Bezos, whom he praised extensively in his 2023 memoir, was “basically fearful” of President Trump.
The number of cancellations comes from a person who asked for anonymity because of the fear of repercussions at the Post. The Washington Post Co. declined to comment on the figures, first reported here by NPR, citing its status as a privately held company. Nor did it comment on the criticism.
A net loss of hundreds of thousands
The rapid-fire cancellations since Wednesday represent a historic level of reader fury over the changes. Yet they are only the most recent wave in a series of mass cancellations that began in late October. That was when Bezos…