Longtime Washington Post columnist quits paper, slams growing editorial constraints under Bezos

A longtime columnist for The Washington Post called out its billionaire owner Jeff Bezos and the shifting editorial policies he said forced him to quit the paper. 

Joe Davidson, who penned the Post's "Federal Insider" column for 17 out of his 20 years at the paper, took to his Facebook page and wrote a piece titled "Quitting The Washington Post -- or did it quit me?", telling readers having the esteemed title of "Washington Post columnist" was not worth keeping no matter the cost.

"For me, the cost became too great when a Federal Insider column I wrote was killed because it was deemed too opinionated under an unwritten and inconsistently enforced policy, which I had not heard of previously," Davidson wrote Tuesday. "While the policy prohibiting opinion and commentary in News section articles can be justified journalistically, it is a departure from longstanding Post practice and mandated a change in my role that I chose not to accept." 

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Longtime Washington Post columnist Joe Davidson said he had a piece killed by his bosses for being "too opinionated."  (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

While Davidson didn't believe Bezos was directly involved in his column being killed, he wrote "it would be naïve to ignore the context."

"Starting before the November presidential election, Bezos’s policies and activities have projected the image of a Donald Trump supplicant," Davidson said. "The result – fleeing journalists, plummeting morale and disappearing subscriptions. Since October, when Bezos blocked publication of a planned Post endorsement of Kamala Harris for president, the departure of Post talent has been shocking and included five former editors directly above me in the newsroom’s hierarchy.

"Nonetheless, Post coverage of Trump remains strong. Yet the policy against opinion in News section columns means less critical scrutiny of Trump -- a result coinciding with Bezos’s unseemly and well-document[ed] coziness with the president."

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Davidson suggested The Washington Post's stricter editorial policies under billionaire owner Jeff Bezos is tied to his "unseemly and well-document[ed] coziness" with President Donald Trump. ((Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage) ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Davidson wrote it was a "shock" when the column was blocked for being "too opinionated," insisting he had written more opinionated pieces throughout his tenure at the Post, but noted that in the piece that was killed, he argued that "one hallmark of President Donald Trump’s first three, turbulent months in office is his widespread, ominous attack on thought, belief and speech."

The piece, Davidson said, listed examples of actions taken by the Trump administration, like its efforts to deport anti-Israel activists Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk, as well as its crackdown on DEI. 

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"Killing that column was a death blow to my life as a Washington Post columnist. But I wrote two more articles to see if I could cope with the restrictions. That’s when I learned just how severe the policy is," Davidson wrote. "In my next piece, I was not allowed to describe a potential pay raise for federal employees as ‘well-deserved’ because of Post policy."

"As a columnist, I can’t live with that level of constraint. A column without commentary made me a columnist without a column. I also was troubled by significant inconsistencies in the implementation of the policy. During this period, The Post allowed stronger, opinionated language by other staffers, including the words ‘viciousness,’ ‘cruelty’ and 'meanness' to describe Trump’s actions," he continued. 

Davidson said his column that was blocked from publication called out President Donald Trump "ominous attack on thought, belief and speech." (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Davidson, who previously wrote a farewell piece to Post readers late last month, said he will continue to subscribe to the Post to support the journalism of his former colleagues but acknowledged those who "understandably have canceled subscriptions to protest Bezos’s actions that have damaged the news organization’s integrity." 

"When Bezos bought The Post, he provided needed money, energy and direction. The Post continues to produce first-rate journalism now, despite his morale-busting actions," Davidson added. 

Neither Davidson nor The Washington Post responded to Fox News Digital's requests for comment. 

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Over the past year, The Washington Post was at the center of intense outrage from the left. The first was in October when Bezos halted the paper's endorsement of then-Vice President Kamala Harris just days before the November election. The second was in February when Bezos announced his directive for the Post's editorial pages to promote "personal liberties and free markets" and vowed not to publish pieces opposing those principles.  

Both instances sparked a mass exodus of paid subscribers and several resignations, including opinion editor David Shipley, who opposed Bezos' new policy. Last month, the Post tapped Adam O'Neal, formerly of The Economist and The Wall Street Journal, to lead the opinion pages.