A top political columnist for The Washington Post resigned today, accusing Post chief executive and publisher Will Lewis of killing her column that criticized owner Jeff Bezos's drive to overhaul the opinion pages to focus on his libertarian priorities.
Post columnist and Associate Editor Ruth Marcus, who has worked at the paper for four decades, says she can no longer stay there.
"Jeff's announcement that the opinion section will henceforth not publish views that deviate from the pillars of individual liberties and free markets threatens to break the trust of readers that columnists are writing what they believe, not what the owner has deemed acceptable," Marcus wrote in a resignation letter obtained by NPR.
More than 75,000 digital subscribers canceled in the 48 hours after Bezos revealed his intentions late last month, which included an edict that the paper would not print opposing views; then Opinions Editor David Shipley stepped down after vainly trying to dissuade Bezos from his course.
Marcus confirmed to NPR she had resigned and the authenticity of the letter but declined further comment.
"Will's decision to not …run the column that I wrote respectfully dissenting from Jeff's edict - something that I have not experienced in almost two decades of column-writing - underscores that the traditional freedom of columnists to select the topics they wish to address and say what they think has been dangerously eroded," she wrote.
"We're grateful for Ruth's significant contributions to The Washington Post over the past 40 years," a spokesperson for the paper said in a statement shared with NPR. "We respect her decision to leave and wish her the best." The Post did not address her allegations against Lewis.
A killed endorsement to avoid 'perception of bias'
In late October, Bezos killed a planned endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. That sparked 300,000 digital subscribers to cancel in the days that ensued.
And it raised questions about Bezos's motivations to his critics, who note that he is the executive chairman of Amazon and founder of Blue Origin, which together have billions of dollars of business with the federal government.
"What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias," Bezos wrote in a opinion piece explaining his decision. "A perception of non-independence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it's the right one."
Bezos has also moved closer to President Trump since the election, traveling with his fiancée to Mar-A-Lago to dine with the Trumps, paying $1 million toward his inauguration fund, sitting on the inauguration platform with other tech titans during the swearing in ceremony, and dining with Trump again late last month in Washington.
Amazon studios have approved two deals for documentaries involving the Trumps, one of which includes a $40 million payout to Melania Trump, according to Puck News.
'Post' blocks coverage of fallout at the paper
All this led to critical columns about the endorsement decision in the Post's own pages and multiple resignations by editorial board members and by contributors to the wider opinions section. Shipley, while still editor, killed a cartoon late last year by Pulitzer Prize-winner Ann Telnaes showing Bezos among the media and tech figures abasing themselves before Trump; she resigned. A deluge of veterans have taken jobs at competing news outlets.
The Post's top news editor, Matt Murray, blocked reporters from covering the fallout at the newspaper, as NPR has reported.
Bezos' decisions about the opinion pages led veteran journalists who have been a part of the Post for decades to cut ties, including Associate Editor David Maraniss and former Senior Managing Editor Cameron Barr.
In her resignation Monday, Marcus said she had served at the Post as a reporter, deputy national editor, editorial writer, deputy editorial page editor before becoming a columnist and associate editor.
"I love the Post," Marcus wrote at the end of her resignation letter. "It breaks my heart to conclude that I must leave. I have the deepest affection and admiration for my colleagues and will miss them every day. And I wish you both the best as you steer this storied and critical institution through troubled times."
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