Washington Post columnist quits after her opinion piece criticizing owner Jeff Bezos is rejected

A columnist who has worked astatine The Washington Post for 4 decades resigned connected Monday aft the newspaper's absorption decided not to tally her commentary captious of proprietor Jeff Bezos' caller editorial policy.

Ruth Marcus, who has worked astatine the paper since 1984, wrote that “it breaks my bosom to reason that I indispensable leave.” Her resignation missive was archetypal reported by The New York Times.

Her exit is fallout from the billionaire owner's directive that the Post constrictive the topics covered by its sentiment conception to idiosyncratic liberties and the escaped market. The newspaper's opinions editor, David Shipley, resigned due to the fact that of the shift, announced 2 weeks ago.

Marcus said that the Post's publisher, Will Lewis, declined to people her column, which she said was “respectfully dissenting” from Bezos' edict. It was the archetypal clip successful astir 20 years of penning columns that she's had 1 killed, she said.

The determination “underscores that the accepted state of columnists to prime the topics they privation to code and accidental what they deliberation has been dangerously eroded,” she wrote.

A Post spokeperson said Monday that “we're grateful for Ruth's important contributions to The Washington Post implicit the past 40 years. We respect her determination to permission and privation her the best.”

The Post has been struggling implicit the past year, financially and editorially. Bezos' determination past autumn that the Post would not endorse a statesmanlike campaigner — aft the editorial unit had prepared to enactment Democrat Kamala Harris — led to an exodus of subscribers. Uncertainty implicit the paper's absorption has led to galore of its journalists leaving for different jobs.

Marcus' resignation connected Monday overshadowed a newsroom reorganization program introduced by Lewis.

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David Bauder writes astir media for the AP. Follow him astatine http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social