5 yrs ago the #WashingtonPost editorial board wrote "Democracy is at risk, at home and around the world. The nation desperately needs a president who will respect its public servants; stand up for the rule of law; acknowledge Congress’s constitutional role; and work for the public good, not his private benefit.”

#Billionaire baron buyer of that iconic #Potomac paper #JeffBezos has since put his thumb on the #editorial scale.

The once disagreeing voices needed in the editorial opinion pages are muffled and only bending truth to please the owner and his new pals at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave in DC. Bezos has since announced he is paying over $40 million for exclusive rights to a documentary about the first lady produced by the first lady herself and directed by a Hollywood cretin who was last seen being chased out of town under a cloud of rape accusations.

This ain't Katherine Graham's #WaPo, Woodward & Bernstein definitely don't work there anymore ... #Writers aren't telling truth or shedding light in darkness, but bending viewpoints towards vaguely defined support of the owner's interest in "personal liberties and free markets" ... and I , along with millions of others have canceled a long time #subscription.

#RuthMarcus tells of her final daze writing under Bezos editorial control, beginning with the passage...

"The values of the Post do not need changing,” Jeff Bezos told #employees when he bought the newspaper a dozen years ago. He echoed the words of the Post’s #owner Eugene Meyer in 1935, emphasizing, “The paper’s duty will remain to its readers and not to the private interests of its owners.”

...and ultimately reveals the rest of column that paper refused ... revealing "the unavoidable truth: the Washington Post I joined, the one I came to love, is not the Washington Post I left."

https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/why-ruth-marcus-left-the-washington-post

Why Ruth Marcus Left the Washington Post

Owner Jeff Bezos wants to transform the Opinions section of the paper, where Ruth Marcus worked for forty years. After the publisher killed her column disagreeing with that move—it appears here in full—she decided to quit.

The New Yorker

"And my point was not only about what columns would get through the filter, once installed; it was about maintaining the trust of our readers. I asked to speak with Lewis. He declined to see me, instructing an editor to inform me that there was no reason to meet, because his decision was final."

Ruth Marcus breaks her silence.

cc: @jeffjarvis

https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/why-ruth-marcus-left-the-washington-post

#Washingtonpost #media #control #ruthmarcus

Why Ruth Marcus Left the Washington Post

Owner Jeff Bezos wants to transform the Opinions section of the paper, where Ruth Marcus worked for forty years. After the publisher killed her column disagreeing with that move—it appears here in full—she decided to quit.

The New Yorker

[The New Yorker]: Why I Left the Washington Post.

Owner Jeff Bezos wants to transform the Opinions section of the paper, where I worked for forty years. After the publisher killed my column disagreeing with that move—it appears here in full—I decided to quit. By Ruth Marcus, Wednesday, March 12, 2025

https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/why-ruth-marcus-left-the-washington-post

#washingtonpost #freedomofthepress #ruthmarcus #jeffbezos

Why Ruth Marcus Left the Washington Post

Owner Jeff Bezos wants to transform the Opinions section of the paper, where Ruth Marcus worked for forty years. After the publisher killed her column disagreeing with that move—it appears here in full—she decided to quit.

The New Yorker
"#WashingtonPost columnist and Associate Editor #RuthMarcus, who has worked at the paper for four decades, says she can no longer stay there.
"Jeff's announcement that the opinion section will henceforth not publish views that deviate from the pillars of individual liberties and free markets threatens to break the trust of readers that columnists are writing what they believe,not what the owner has deemed acceptable," Marcus wrote in a resignation letter obtained by NPR."
https://www.npr.org/2025/03/10/nx-s1-5323136/washington-post-editor-ruth-marcus-resigns
Kulturwandel unter Jeff Bezos: Langjährige »Washington Post«-Kolumnistin kündigt aus Protest

»Washington Post«-Besitzer Jeff Bezos hat das Meinungsressort der Zeitung grundlegend neu ausgerichtet. Eine kritische Kolumne der langjährigen Mitarbeiterin Ruth Marcus wurde nun gestrichen. Sie zog Konsequenzen.

DER SPIEGEL
Washington Post Columnist Quits After Article Criticizing Jeff Bezos Is Shelved

Ruth Marcus, a longtime columnist at The Post, said its publisher refused to run her critique of the new focus for the paper’s opinion section.

The New York Times

Gene Weingarten notes that Ruth Marcus was also an Associate Editor of Washington Post, "and was so well thought of that when Opinions editor Fred Hiatt died suddenly in December 2021, she was appointed interim editor, along with Karen Tumulty."

#WashingtonPost #RuthMarcus #FreeSpeech #media #JeffBezos #billionaires #EconomicElites #Trump #authoritarianism
/4

https://geneweingarten.substack.com/p/sigh-vol-ix

Sigh, Vol. IX

Well, I’m back with an important report from …

The Gene Pool

"What a perfect encapsulation of our media moment: a billionaire buys a storied newspaper, blocks endorsements, mandates coverage aligned with his ideology, and then silences anyone who dares question the new direction—all while claiming to champion "personal liberties."

#WashingtonPost #RuthMarcus #FreeSpeech #media #JeffBezos #billionaires #EconomicElites #Trump #authoritarianism
/3

"I am taking this step, after more than 40 years at The Post, following Will's decision to spike a column that I wrote expressing a concern about the newly announced direction for the section and declined to discuss the decision with me."

Molloy says,

"This is what happens when newspapers are run like authoritarian fiefdoms instead of journalistic institutions."

#WashingtonPost #RuthMarcus #FreeSpeech #media #JeffBezos #billionaires #EconomicElites #Trump #authoritarianism
/2

As Parker Molloy reports, highly regarded Washingon Post columnist Ruth Marcus resigned today, stating,

"With immense sadness I am writing to let you know that I have resigned from The Washington Post, in an email sent this morning to Jeff Bezos and Will Lewis and pasted below."

#WashingtonPost #RuthMarcus #FreeSpeech #media #JeffBezos #billionaires #EconomicElites #Trump #authoritarianism
/1

https://www.readtpa.com/p/another-dark-day-at-the-bezos-post

Another Dark Day at the Bezos Post: Ruth Marcus Resigns After Censorship

The billionaire squeeze tightens as another respected journalist refuses to fall in line with Bezos's rightward push.

The Present Age