The columnist, who worked for the Washington Post for 40 years, resigned on Monday after newspaper management said he had decided not to carry out a critical commentary on owner Jeff Bezos. New Editing Policy.
“It breaks my heart to conclude that I have to leave,” Ruth Marcus has I worked in the newspaper He has written in his resignation letter since 1984.
Her exit is the latest fallout from the orders of the billionaire owner. This means that the post narrows the topics covered in the Personal Freedom and Free Market Opinions section. David Shipley, editor of newspaper opinion, had already resigned due to the shift.
The prestigious newspaper has fallen financially and editorially free for the past year. Marcus, who worked in the news and opinion department during his career, “is the bedrock of the Washington Post, embodying the history of the place and the talent and achievements of journalists,” said former media reporter Paul Farhe.
Marcus said Post’s publisher Will Lewis refused to carry out her column. She said it was the first time she had killed in a writing column that had almost 20 years.
The decision “emphasizes that the traditional freedom of columnists emphasizes that they choose the topic they want to deal with and that they think they have dangerously eroded,” she wrote. Her letter of resignation was first reported by the New York Times.
A spokesman for the Post said Monday, “We are grateful for Ruth’s great contributions to the Washington Post over the past 40 years. We respect her decision, leave and hope she will be the best.”
Is it rare for publishers to knock down news columns?
Bezos and Lewis have the right to make such a decision – they are bosses – “It wasn’t a tradition,” Farhi said. He compared it to how the Department of Justice, technically under White House control, is generally independently operated. Editorial writers and columnists were paid to express their views and decided what they normally should write, he said.
The danger is that by deciding publishers not to move the column forward, they will ask readers whether the writer’s perspective is really their own, he said. What’s worse, it could pollute the news sector, which is actively covering the new administration on most accounts.
A separate posting story about the issue by media columnist Eric Wemple was discarded shortly after the decision to make the editorial page was announced almost two weeks ago, according to Gene Poole, a blog written by the original post office’s Jean Weingarten. Wemple declined to comment Monday.
In January, editorial cartoonist Anne Ternaes resigned after a job portraying Bezos and other billionaires who had been genuinely folded before the statue of President Donald Trump was rejected, Shipley explained at the time, because it was a repetition of other opinions.
Under executive editor Matt Murray, the post also said he would refrain from writing journalists on issues relating to newspapers, Wemple said in a January chat with readers that “I can’t resist more strongly.”
Monday’s Post Office opinion included an editor opposed a $10 billion lawsuit against a firearms manufacturer, a U.S. Supreme Court case. Columnist Max Boots wrote about Trump, Russia, Perry Bacon Jr., about democratic resistance to Trump’s central focus, and Philip wrote about Jim Gerati whether Trump will pay political prices for unpopular policies about Syrian violence.
Post has seen the departure of famous journalists
The post, which earned money during the first Trump administration, has lost money in recent years, and the battle for which began mainly in June last year. When Sally Busby resigns Rather than accepting a newsroom reorganization, as an executive editor. Several well-known postjournalists, Ashley Parker, Josh Dorsey, Philip Rucker, Mattia Gold, Jackie Alemany, Michael Scheller and Will Somer, have left for other jobs.
Last fall, Bezos’ decision was made to not support the presidential candidate after editorial staff prepared to support Democrat Kamala Harris. Subscriber’s departure The newspapers are fighting to recover.
Post’s executive editor Marty Baron wrote that Bezos “brilliantly handled ownership for over a decade” last week in the Atlantic when Bezos purchased the paper in 2013. But his courage caused him to fail when he needed it the most. ”
Marcus’ resignation on Monday overshadowed Lewis’s plans to reorganize the newsroom, including separating the Post’s digital and print product workflows.
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David Bauder writes about the media on the AP. Follow him in http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social
