Sigh, Vol. IX

Stock image.

Well, I’m back with an important report from …

Ruth Marcus resigned this morning because the publisher of the Washington Post spiked her column on how disappointed she was in the Bezosification of the Opinions section. Ruth is columnist, writing mostly on law, always well reasoned and always well written. She is also an Associate Editor of the newspaper, and was so well thought of that when Opinions editor Fred Hiatt died suddenly in December 2021, she was appointed interim editor, along with Karen Tumulty.

This is her letter of resignation, which is characteristically blunt and unsparing. It was sent to Bezos and Will Lewis, the paper’s publisher and CEO:

Dear Jeff and Will,

It is with great sadness that I submit my resignation as columnist and associate editor of The Washington Post. I have cherished my four decades at the Post--as a reporter, deputy national editor, editorial writer, deputy editorial page editor and columnist. As a reporter, I was honored to provide readers the truth as it could best be ascertained. As an opinion writer, I was equally honored to offer commentary that readers could be assured constituted my best independent judgment of the topic at hand.

Unfortunately, on the opinions side of the newspaper, that appears to be no longer the case. 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. Will’s decision to not to 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.

I love the Post. 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.

      Sincerely,

      Ruth Marcus

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That’s it.