Washington Post columnist reportedly quits over Bezos’s ‘free markets’ direction

A Washington Post editorial board member is reportedly leaving the paper, citing leadership’s “relentless promotion of free markets and personal liberties.”

Following President Donald Trump’s re-election, Post owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced that the editorial section of the paper would be changing course, prompting then-opinion editor David Shipley to leave. 

“We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of 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,” Bezos posted on X in Feb 2025.

This proved to be too much for liberal Post editorial board member and columnist Eduardo Porter, who said he would no longer be writing for the paper because he is a “bad fit for this ideological turn.”

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In a letter allegedly penned by Porter, he said, “Jeff Bezos and his new head of Opinion are taking the paper down a path I cannot follow directed towards the relentless promotion of free markets and personal liberties, unflinching in its patriotism and unbounded in its optimism about the future of the United States.” 

“In my view, this layering of dogma undermines critical thinking. It is in tension with my understanding of what journalism, analysis and commentary are about. It risks turning the Post into something more akin to a church, with tight constraints on thought,” he added.

Porter appeared to believe that the new direction would turn the Washington Post into a “pamphlet” for “venerating the technological plutocracy at the apex of American society” that he believes Bezos takes part in as a tech-based mogul.

He also questioned Trump’s influence in these decisions.

“I have no idea to what extent this is driven by Mr. Bezos’ fear of what Donald Trump could do to his various business interests, most of which are more valuable to him than The Post,” the letter read.

Fox News Digital reached out to Porter and the Washington Post for comment.

Reports of Porter leaving the Post come on the heels of fellow columnist Jonathan Capehart, who had previously resigned from the editorial board, reportedly accepting a buyout to leave the paper after nearly two decades.

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A glut of columnists and opinion page contributors – Ann Telnaes, David Shipley, Ruth Marcus, Eugene Robinson and, just earlier this month, Joe Davidson – have also all departed the beltway paper as concerns mount over the Washington Post’s editorial slant taking a rightward shift following Trump’s re-election.

Washington Post publisher and CEO Will Lewis urged staff members in a memo earlier this month that those who didn’t “feel aligned” with the new direction should take a buyout and leave.

Fox News’ David Spector contributed to this report.