Pulitzer Prize-winning opinion columnist Eugene Robinson quit The Washington Post on Thursday over billionaire owner Jeff Bezos’ plan to have the section focus on “free markets and personal liberties”—traditionally conservative values that signal the paper’s rightward shift.
Robinson, 71, told staffers in a memo that Bezos’ reminagining of the opinion page has “spurred me to decide that it’s time for my next chapter,” according to The New York Times. Bezos announced the change to the opinion page in February, sparking anger among his staff and Post alumni and causing yet another wave of subscribers to dump their subscriptions.
“I wish nothing but the very best for the paper and for all of you,” Robinson wrote. “I won’t be a stranger, and I’ll be reading your unparalleled work every single day.”
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In a statement, a Post spokesperson characterized the departure as a “retirement.”
“For 45 years, his reporting and commentary spanned continents and beats, earning countless recognitions, including a Pulitzer Prize,“ the spokesperson said. ”Eugene’s strong perspective and impeccable integrity have regularly shaped our public discourse, cementing his legacy as a leading voice in American journalism.”
Robinson joined the paper in 1980 and joined the opinion section in 2005, winning a Pulitzer Prize in commentary in 2009 for his columns on the 2008 presidential election. During a February MSNBC appearance, he criticized Bezos’ decision and signaled he may leave the paper over the issue.
“For many of us, this is, to quote Elon Musk, a ‘fork-in-the-road moment’ because these kinds of strictures—whatever they turn out to be—are not what we thought we had signed up for,“ Robinson said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe in February. “This is not the way we have worked to produce what is, I believe, objectively the best opinion section in American journalism.”
Bezos’ decision, which comes four months after his decision to nix the opinion section’s tradition of presidential endorsements, also led to opinions editor David Shipley leaving the paper. The paper touted an increase of 400,000 subscriptions during a meeting earlier this week, according to Breaker Media—two months after losing more than 75,000 subscriptions over the opinion page rehaul.
