<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A columnist who has worked at </span><em><span>The Washington Post</span></em><span> for four decades resigned after she said the newspaper's management decided not to run her commentary critical of owner Jeff Bezos' new editorial policy.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It breaks my heart to conclude that I must leave," Ruth Marcus, who has worked at the newspaper since 1984, wrote in a resignation letter.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Her exit on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) is the latest fallout from the billionaire owner's directive that the </span><em><span>Post</span></em><span> narrow the topics covered by its opinion section to personal liberties and the free market. The newspaper's opinions editor, David Shipley, had already resigned because of the shift.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/finance/donald-trump-update-stocks-on-sp-500-dow-wall-street-wonders-how-much-pain-economy/e1757e30-2a8b-4685-8b9c-89636d909f23" target="_blank"><strong><span>More than $30 billion wiped off Australian shares amid fears over Trump tariffs fallout</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The storied newspaper has been in a free fall, financially and editorially, over the past year. Marcus, who worked in the news and opinion departments during her career, is "the bedrock of </span><em><span>The Washington Post</span></em><span>, embodying the history of the place as well as the talent and accomplishments of its journalists," said Paul Farhi, a former media reporter there.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Marcus said that the </span><em><span>Post's</span></em><span> publisher, Will Lewis, declined to run her column, which she described as "respectfully dissenting" from Bezos' edict. It was the first time in nearly 20 years of writing columns that she's had one killed, she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The decision "underscores that the traditional freedom of columnists to select the topics they wish to address and say what they think has been dangerously eroded," she wrote. Her resignation letter was first reported by </span><em><span>The New York Times</span></em><span>.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/washington-post-columnist-ruth-marcus-quits-after-column-critical-of-owner-jeff-bezos-pulled/ea7afad1-be8c-43f6-a960-bfc397f93943" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A </span><em><span>Post</span></em><span> spokesperson said on Monday that "we're grateful for Ruth's significant contributions to </span><em><span>The Washington Post</span></em><span> over the past 40 years. We respect her decision to leave and wish her the best."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-cracks-now-starting-to-show-in-us-economy/e1b070ec-6caa-4caf-9ac2-3e677746d722" target="_blank"><strong><span>Cracks are forming in America's economy. Trump is a big reason why</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h3><span>Is it unusual for a publisher to pull a news column?</span></h3></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While Bezos and Lewis have the right to make such decisions — they're the bosses — "that has not been the tradition," Farhi said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He likened it to how the US Justice Department, while technically under White House control, has generally operated independently. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Editorial writers and columnists, paid to give their opinions, usually decide what to write, he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The danger is that a decision by the publisher not to allow a column to go forward can make readers question whether the viewpoints of writers are truly their own, he said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Worse yet, it could taint the news department, which by most accounts is aggressively covering the new administration.</span></div></div><div class="styles__Wrapper-sc-2o34ro-0 cmwkBV"><div class="styles__Column-sc-2o34ro-3 jJDKrX"><a href="/content/2024/11/08/07/55/worlds-10-richest-people-64-billion-dollars-richer-donald-trump-reelection-elon-musk-jeff-bezos-larry-ellison"><img alt="" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 636px, (min-width: 768px) 396px, 100vw" src="https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/3cypKL3eEOLqoh7-CD5UIOXR990=/0x217:5649x3394/396x223/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F06c96152-0b3c-436d-b18e-9a67f50cbe2e" srcset="https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/3cypKL3eEOLqoh7-CD5UIOXR990=/0x217:5649x3394/396x223/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F06c96152-0b3c-436d-b18e-9a67f50cbe2e 396w, https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/N3ll499e8dS8ATdHNneHSXLVDeI=/0x217:5649x3394/636x358/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2F06c96152-0b3c-436d-b18e-9a67f50cbe2e 636w"/></a></div><div class="styles__Column-sc-2o34ro-3 jJDKrX"><div class="styles__Headline-sc-2o34ro-4 hpbOlz">Musk loses $74 billion - but is by far still the world's richest</div><div class="styles__Button-sc-2o34ro-1 eBjlmW"><a class="styles__ButtonLink-sc-2o34ro-2 hqpklJ" href="/content/2024/11/08/07/55/worlds-10-richest-people-64-billion-dollars-richer-donald-trump-reelection-elon-musk-jeff-bezos-larry-ellison">View Gallery</a></div></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Shortly after the editorial page decision was announced nearly two weeks ago, another </span><em><span>Post</span></em><span> story on the issue, by media columnist Erik Wemple, was scrapped, according to the Gene Pool, a blog written by former </span><em><span>Post</span></em><span> writer Gene Weingarten. Wemple declined to comment on Monday.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In January, editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes resigned after her work depicting Bezos and other billionaires genuflecting before a statue of President Donald Trump was rejected, a decision Shipley explained at the time was because it was repetitive of other opinion pieces.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Under executive editor Matt Murray, the </span><em><span>Post</span></em><span> has also said it would refrain from having its journalists write about issues involving the newspaper, a decision Wemple said in a chat with readers in January that "I couldn't possibly dissent (from) more strongly."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><h2><span>Exodus of prominent journalists</span></h2></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The </span><em><span>Post</span></em><span>, which made money during the first Trump administration, has been losing money in recent years and its internal strife largely began last June, when Sally Buzbee resigned as executive editor rather than accept a newsroom reorganisation. Several prominent Post journalists — among them Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey, Philip Rucker, Matea Gold, Jackie Alemany, Michael Scherer and Will Sommer — have left for other jobs.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Bezos' decision last fall that the </span><em><span>Post</span></em><span> would not endorse a presidential candidate — after the editorial staff had prepared to support Democrat Kamala Harris — led to an exodus of subscribers that the newspaper is fighting to recover from.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Marty Baron, the </span><em><span>Post's</span></em><span> executive editor when Bezos bought the paper in 2013, wrote last week in </span><em><span>The</span></em><span> </span><em><span>Atlantic</span></em><span> that Bezos "handled his ownership admirably for more than a decade. But his courage failed him when he needed it the most."</span></div></div>