The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Billionaire owner Jeff Bezos’ move to change the opinions section of The Washington Post has led to the exit of the paper’s opinions editor and reactions from around the world on its distinct effects on press freedom.
“I’m writing to let you know about a change coming to our opinion pages,” Bezos wrote on X, at 8:01 pm on February 26 (IST).
Bezos added that the paper will now be supporting “two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.”
“We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others,” he said.
The shift has led to opinions editor David Shipley to step down from his position, something Bezos notes in his post. Several Post employees are reported to be unhappy with the decision.
In an email to the Post’s editorial team obtained by CNN, Shipley said his decision to leave the publisher was reached “after reflection.”
“I will always be thankful for the opportunity I was given to work alongside a team of opinion journalists whose commitment to strong, innovative, reported commentary inspired me every day — and was affirmed by two Pulitzer Prizes and two Loeb Awards in two short years,” Shipley wrote in the email.
Bezos claimed that legacy opinion sections have become redundant thanks to the internet.
“There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader’s doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views,” Bezos said in his post. “Today, the internet does that job.”
Bezos bought the paper for $250 million in 2013 amidst fervent assertions that he would not meddle with its functioning.
Politico has reported the news with the headline: ‘Jeff Bezos Turns Out the Lights in the Washington Post’s Opinion Section’
Last year, Bezos took the decision to block the paper’s endorsement of former US vice-president Kamala Harris for president. More than 200,000 people cancelled their digital subscriptions in the immediate aftermath.
Socialist US politician Bernie Sanders has posted on X: “This is what Oligarch ownership of the media looks like.”
“The second-richest guy in the world, Bezos, owns The Washington Post. He has now declared that the editorial page of that paper is going Trump right-wing. Surprise, Mr. Musk agrees. We must support independent media,” Sanders wrote.