Washington Publish proprietor Jeff Bezos slammed by liberal pundits for contemporary transfer

Washington Publish proprietor Jeff Bezos was criticized by liberal commentators after his Wednesday announcement of main modifications to the paper’s opinion part, with critics accusing him of bending the knee to President Donald Trump.

The New Yorker’s David Remnick joined MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Thursday to debate the Publish and stated, “This can be a horrible tragedy. That is the paper of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate and a lot extra.”

“And Jeff Bezos purchased The Washington Publish for half the value of his boat, and he has handled it like a rubber dinghy, and it’s a horrible tragedy,” Remnick continued. He argued that Bezos was “throwing up his arms and kissing the ring of the president of the US,” out of worry of the president, “who’s behaving himself as an incipient authoritarian.”

Bezos introduced on Wednesday that the Publish opinion web page can be utterly revamped, specializing in “writing day by day in help and protection of two pillars: private liberties and free markets.” The opinion editor for the paper, David Shipley, additionally stepped down.

WASHINGTON POST OWNER JEFF BEZOS WANTS MORE CONSERVATIVE OPINION WRITERS AT PAPER: REPORT

Billionaire Washington Publish proprietor Jeff Bezos broadcasts new modifications to the Publish opinion part.  ((Picture by Karwai Tang/WireImage) ERIC BARADAT/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)

The Publish’s writer and CEO, William Lewis, additionally issued a press release on the modifications on Wednesday, saying, “This isn’t about siding with any political social gathering. That is about being crystal clear about what we stand for as a newspaper. Doing this can be a important a part of serving as a premier information publication throughout America and for all People.”

The Publish got here below hearth after Bezos stopped the editorial web page from endorsing former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 over Trump, prompting a number of staffers to depart the paper. The paper endorsed former President Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016. 

Former Washington Publish editor Marty Baron additionally slammed the Publish throughout a dialog on “Morning Joe” Wednesday, when host Joe Scarborough requested him to speak in regards to the shake-up, which he stated was surprising.

“I’m in favor of free expression. You understand, it’s proper there within the First Modification. And information organizations have at all times honored free expression by having quite a lot of factors of view on their opinion pages.” Baron stated. 

“However Bezos now could be simply shutting that down. And he’s saying that solely his standpoint goes to be represented on these pages. And that basically is a betrayal of the heritage of the Washington Publish. And I feel a betrayal of the very concept of free expression,” he added.

WAPO COLUMNIST CALLS OUT JEFF BEZOS’ ‘BULLS— EXPLANATION’ ON NON-ENDORSEMENT: ‘BENDING THE KNEE’ TO TRUMP

The Washington Publish’s constructing in D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Pictures)

Axios founder Jim VandeHei instructed “Morning Joe” that Bezos was amongst a number of house owners of media firms who had been “buckling.”

“I’m stunned he didn’t simply shut down the opinion web page,” VandeHei instructed MSNBC. “Put all of your cash into reporting if you wish to be the ‘Paper for all of America’ – which is the best way he’s been describing it. You in all probability want plenty of reporters in America to do the job. And so the concept of, sort of, replicating the Wall Road Journal or The Economist after which additionally saying, ‘Hey, should you don’t agree with our opinion, there’s no means you’re going to be on the pages.’ It simply sounds bizarre.”

CNN’s Abby Phillip had two panelists on throughout her present Wednesday night time who stated Bezos’ newest announcement was simply a part of the issue. 

“I now use the hashtags #damaged Occasions and #brokenPost. The headlines in each papers, I feel, are continually off, continually making an attempt to soft-pedal what‘s occurring,” Jeff Jarvis, a professor at Stony Brook College, stated. 

“We’re in the midst of a totalitarian fascist coup on this nation. And after we don‘t name it that, after we soft-pedal it, after we don‘t have an actual dialogue about it — at the very least right here I can say these phrases, we will have that dialogue, however you’ll not see these phrases in The New York Occasions or The Washington Publish,” he continued.

One other panelist, Touré, an writer on Substack, agreed and added, “if we had been being sincere, there must be a breaking information banner on CNN and MSNBC all day lengthy, ‘We’re in dictatorship proper now.'”

WASHINGTON POST UNION, STAFFERS REVOLT OVER DECISION NOT TO ENDORSE A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, BLAME BEZOS

Stony Brook College professor Jeff Jarvis spoke out in opposition to Bezos’ announcement in regards to the publish on Wednesday. (Screenshot/CNN)

Jarvis additionally mirrored on Bezos’ deal with private liberties and free markets.

“It’s a ridiculous phrase sport that’s occurring right here. I imply, who doesn‘t imagine in particular person liberties? Who doesn‘t imagine in free markets? Till a month in the past, we lived in a democracy, in capitalist nation. Now we‘re in an oligarchy and a plutocracy, and issues have modified,” he stated. 

Jarvis added, “He‘s signaling that he’s going to make use of these sorts of made-up phrases to say, ‘I‘m with Trump.’ And as you stated, it‘s his paper. He owns it. He can drive it within the floor, which he’s doing, having misplaced 300,000 subscribers after not endorsing Kamala Harris. It’s his alternative, but it surely’s an necessary establishment on this nation that he’s destroying.”

The transfer additionally prompted criticism from outstanding Democrats, together with California Sen. Adam Schiff. 

“Within the guise of advancing ‘private liberty’ the Washington Publish will constrain the freedom of its editors to publish opinions not advancing its proprietor’s enterprise pursuits,” Schiff tweeted. 

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“Seems democracy dies within the arms of oligarchs,” Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., stated.

Politico’s Michael Schaffer wrote in a column for the outlet’s journal on Wednesday that democracy was “dying in darkness,” a reference to The Washington Publish’s slogan.

“In personally saying that he was dramatically re-orienting the editorial line, and actually wouldn’t even run dissenting views, Bezos added one other sharp instance to a story that represents a grave menace to the Publish’s picture: The concept that its proprietor is messing round with the product to be able to curry favor together with his new pal Donald Trump, who has the facility to withhold contracts from Amazon and different Bezos firms,” Schaffer wrote. 

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The Washington Publish didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.