Ruth Marcus, a longtime editor of the Washington Post editorial page, resigned as CEO and charged with Lewis spiked her work and criticised the paper's new direction in an email obtained by Maxwell Tani of Semafor.
According to screenshots obtained by Tani, Marcus claimed in her departure note that Lewis had scrapped the editor “spewing concerns about the newly announced direction.”
Marcus's notes to Lewis and owner Jeff Bezos pic.twitter.com/yw8fn5g3fb
– Max Tani (@maxwelltani) March 10, 2025
The paper's owner, Jeff Bezos, announced a new direction in the editorial section in February. Claim They focus on “personal freedom and the free market” and do not publish any criticisms of these two pillars.
Marcus said he tried to write “respectfully against,” manipulated from Bezos's standpoint. (Related: Legacy media set to fire dozens of people WAPO is dying in earnest: Report)
“The traditional freedom of columnists is choosing the topic they want to deal with and saying things they think are dangerously eroding,” she said in a message written directly to Bezos and Lewis.
“From now on, Jeff's announcement that the opinion section will not publish opinions that deviate from the pillars of individual freedom and free markets threatens to break readers' trust that they are writing what they believe, rather than what the columnists deemed acceptable to the owner,” she wrote.
Marcus worked on the paper for over 40 years. She started as an editorial writer and columnist in 1984, and eventually became an assistant editor page editor in 2016, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The act of rebellion follows a pattern. Several prominent WAPO employees have also stopped protesting after the paper's editorial board chose not to support Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
