Eugene Robinson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist at The Washington Post, announced that he’s leaving the newspaper on Thursday after billionaire owner Jeff Bezos’ overhaul to its editorial pages.
Robinson — in an email to Post staffers — wrote that Bezos’ plan for a “significant shift” to the opinion section’s mission “has spurred me to decide that it’s time for my next chapter,” The New York Times’ Ben Mullin reported.
Robinson, who joined the newspaper back in 1980, appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” back in February where he slammed Bezos’ decision at the time.
“This is not the way we have worked to produce what is, I believe, objectively the best opinion section in American journalism and I would — I would defend that,” he said.
“I think it’s a mistake journalistically, I think it’s a mistake as a business proposition but, you know, it leaves us with choices and decisions to make about our futures.”
The exit by Robinson ― who won a Pulitzer Prize for his columns on Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign ― joins other journalists that have bid farewell to The Post, including longtime columnist Ruth Marcus, who claimed the publisher spiked a piece ripping Bezos’ plan for the opinion section.
In January, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes revealed that she quit the paper over a sketch it killed that featured the billionaire on bended knee for President Donald Trump.
A spokesperson for the paper, in a statement to The Daily Beast, remarked on Robinson’s 45 years of reporting and commentary that “spanned continents and beats, earning countless recognitions” such as the Pulitzer Prize.
“Eugene’s strong perspective and impeccable integrity have regularly shaped our public discourse, cementing his legacy as a leading voice in American journalism,” the spokesperson said.
Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images
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Bezos, who attended Trump’s inauguration along with his fiancée, Lauren Sanchez, in January, saw backlash in the newsroom when he announced that the opinion section would be revamped to focus on the “two pillars” of “personal liberties and free markets.”
The decision arrived several months after Bezos announced that the paper would no longer endorse presidential candidates. The Post’s editorial board had reportedly drafted an endorsement for then-Vice President Kamala Harris at the time but, following the billionaire’s review of the decision, it was scrapped.
The paper, after the non-endorsement and Bezos’ opinion overhaul, saw its subscriptions crater, although the paper reportedly pointed to an increase of 400,000 subscribers during a meeting last week.
