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#Bezos said on Wed he would mandate the paper’s #opinions section to focus on supporting #FreeMarkets & #PersonalLiberties, saying those pieces w/opposing views can “be left to be published by others.”

The move was rebuked by current & former #WashingtonPost staffers, though it was praised in a trolling post by #Trump’s WH.

#MartyBaron — played by Liev Schriber in Oscar-winning movie Spotlight—served as the paper’s executive editor from early 2013, months before #Bezos purchased the Post, through to early 2021. He documented his relationship w/the #Amazon founder in his book Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, & the #WashingtonPost.

In his statement, Baron wondered how Bezos’ support for personal liberties squared with his mandate for limited views on the #opinion pages.

“It was only weeks ago that The Post described itself as providing coverage for ‘all of America,’” #MartyBaron wrote in his statement. “Now its opinion pages will be open to only some of America, those who think exactly as he does.”

…Baron also accused #Bezos of acquiescing to #Trump & the his attacks on the #press for his own business interests.

#Bezos ended the #WashingtonPost‘s decades-long tradition of presidential endorsements—& scrapped a planned #endorsement of #KamalaHarris—last fall, & he appeared alongside other #tech *leaders* [#technocrats / #oligarchs] at Trump’s inauguration…. He also donated $1M to #Trump’s inaugural cmte.

“There is no doubt in my mind that he is doing this out of #fear of the consequences for his other business interests, #Amazon (the source of his #wealth) & #BlueOrigin (which represents his lifelong passion for space exploration),” #MartyBaron wrote Wednesday. “He has prioritized those commercial interests over The Post, & he is betraying The Post’s longstanding #principles to do so.”