The Washington Post’s Strategy Is to Do Whatever Jeff Bezos Wants

Photo: Michael M. Santiag/Getty Images

When Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos stunned the newsroom on Wednesday by announcing that he was remaking the ideology of the “Opinions” section so that it would be “writing every day in support and defense” of “personal liberties and free markets,” publisher Will Lewis eagerly hopped onboard. In a follow-up letter to staff, Lewis said he “will be so very proud for the Post to be known for its two key pillars,” a departure from the righteous motto of “Democracy Dies in Darkness” that Bezos adopted during Donald Trump’s first term. “This is about being crystal clear about what we stand for as a newspaper,” Lewis wrote. “Doing this is a critical part of serving as a premier news publication across America and for all Americans.”

But behind the scenes, Lewis had pointed out to Bezos that the change would have consequences for the health of the paper, according to a source familiar with conversations around the decision. This is ostensibly because the “Opinions” section is a crucial component of Lewis’s vision for revitalizing the Post, the second of three newsrooms he outlined in his big plan to drive subscriptions and increase reader engagement. Opinion sections, though smaller than their news-gathering counterparts, are cheaper to produce and known to punch above their weight in terms of getting eyeballs — particularly when taking aim at the Trump administration. “You have an owner whose political perspectives are evolving quite rapidly and who, like a lot of billionaires, lives outside of consequence,” said one Post insider. “This is probably not a great commercial move, but he has the cash to be careless.”

Bezos’s decision is the latest earthquake to hit the Post since he pulled the editorial board’s endorsement of Kamala Harris on the eve of the 2024 election — a move that cost the paper some 250,000 angered subscribers, who likely associated the Post more with the truth-to-power journalism of the Watergate era than defending the integrity of free markets. Sources said it became clear at the beginning of 2025 that Bezos wanted such a shift, and Ben Mullin of the New York Times reported that Lewis in January sent “Opinions” editor David Shipley a memo with Bezos’s ideas for an opinion section that more closely resembled that of the Rupert Murdoch–owned Wall Street Journal. Shipley made the decision to step down in the past week or so.

Bezos has now made it clear that he intends to use the Post as an instrument of his own ideas and agenda after years in which he let Marty Baron, Fred Hiatt, and other editors steer the ship. “Jeff has clearly shifted his relationship with the paper from distant steward to person who has a plaything, and he’s demonstrated a kind of impetuousness and a little bit of careless disregard that are very familiar to public life right now,” the Post insider noted. And Bezos has also made it clear that, whatever plans Lewis may have to bring back subscribers, those are secondary to his political aims, which appear to include appeasing the Trump administration. (That Lewis’s authority has been undermined was painfully evident in the fact that staff got the memo from Bezos first.) Baron said he couldn’t be more “sad and disgusted” with Bezos’s change in approach.

“Opinions” staff gathered for a meeting on Wednesday in which Shipley explained that he wanted an opinion section reflecting a wide range of voices and views — a “360-degree view,” as he put it, per an “Opinions” staffer. The staffer noted that Bezos has “talked in the past about wanting a broader range of views and encouraged us to look all over the country — and not in the traditional opinion silos of the coasts,” adding, “it seems like Jeff has reversed himself on that and no longer believes in hosting a national conversation.” In his memo, Bezos wrote, “We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.”

What this decision means for “Opinions” staffers who don’t align with Bezos’s viewpoint remains to be seen. (Or even for those who do: “I’m very much in favor of free markets and individual liberty, but I never signed up to be a mouthpiece for Jeff Bezos or anyone else,” as one staffer put it.) There is also the question of whether Bezos will begin meddling in the newsroom. His encroachment into the “Opinions” section prompted several top Post journalists to say publicly that they would quit if he interferes with their reporting. “No one has ever told me what to write,” White House reporter Dan Diamond wrote on X. “If that changes, I’d speak out and leave.” Executive editor Matt Murray assured reporters that Bezos had no desire to do so. The opinion section “is traditionally the provenance of the owner at news organizations,” Murray wrote in a memo to the newsroom. “The independent and unbiased work of the Post’s newsroom remains unchanged, and we will continue to pursue engaging, impactful journalism without fear or favor.”

All this turmoil comes as the Post has seen an exodus of top talent, with more to come, including Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Kitchener, who is heading to the Times. “He’s making it hard for the reporters of the Washington Post to do their jobs. It’s his paper — I get that — but it just feels like a joke,” one staffer said. “Is Jeff Bezos going to allow the Washington Post editorial page to write things about freedom of speech for people he doesn’t like? Or to write about free markets and how Amazon is a threat?”

At least one person is a fan of the changes. “Bravo, @JeffBezos!” Elon Musk wrote on X.