Jeff Bezos knocked a yet another hole in the Washington Post’s finances this week, as the paper has lost 75,000 digital subscriptions in the 2 days since the billionaire commanded its opinion section to exclusively promote his right wing views.
NPR first reported those losses, which haven’t been made public by the Post but were leaked by employees who, according to NPR, fear internal reprisals if their names become public.
It’s a sizable hit to the Post’s readership in such a short time, but still only a fraction of the gaping fiscal wound the paper has suffered since Bezos began imposing his political preferences on its coverage. That started in late October when, just days before the 2024 election, Bezos killed a planned endorsement of Kamala Harris.
In the 24 hours after that announcement, the Washington Post lost a staggering 250,000 paid subscribers, at the time a 10% drop. By election day that drop had grown to more than 300,000 and the exodus continued into the new year. In fact, though the paper claims it has brought in 400,000 new subscribers in the months since the election thanks to an aggressive marketing push, according to NPR WaPo has still suffered a net loss of more than 200,000 subscriptions.
That may be because Bezos, apparently determined to destroy the reputation of the paper he bought for $250 million in 2013, has increasingly overruled editorial judgment and fostered a culture of apparent censorship of views contrary to his own since the election.
For instance, In January, Washington Post editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes quit after editors killed a satirical cartoon that mocked Bezos and other media and tech giants for their fealty to Donald Trump. And in early February, WaPo canceled a planned “Fire Elon” advertisement.
On Wednesday, Bezos announced the Opinion section change to staff, asserting that “we are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.” Opposing views, Bezos said, will not be welcome at the Post. Of course, the terms were not defined, but the billionaire has indicated a clear, conservative interpretation of phrases like “personal liberties.” Make of that what you will.
Opinion editor David Shipley quit in protest after this announcement, and multiple WaPo staffers and alums condemned the move. Meanwhile, it’s only the latest curious example of billionaire businessmen who don’t seem interested in whether or not a business is actually successful if said business is a newspaper that dare publish liberal points of view. Even, and perhaps especially, if it drives away the paper’s actual customers.
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