Washington Post loses staff, readers, and money as Bezos bends to Trump
Prominent Washington Post opinion writer Jennifer Rubin announced Monday that she’s leaving her position, citing owner Jeff Bezos’ capitulation to Donald Trump as a reason for her departure.
The news comes as the Post’s internal reports show declines in web traffic and revenue since the paper became friendlier toward Trump in the past year.
“Corporate and billionaire owners of major media outlets have betrayed their audiences’ loyalty and sabotaged journalism’s sacred mission—defending, protecting, and advancing democracy,” Rubin said in a statement. “The Washington Post’s billionaire owner and enlisted management are among the offenders. They have undercut the values central to The Post’s mission and that of all journalism: integrity, courage, and independence.”
Rubin’s departure comes just a few days after Pulitzer-prize winning editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes also quit after the Post’s editorial page editor reportedly rejected a cartoon that depicted Bezos, along with other media executives, bowing to Trump and offering him cash (Bezos has donated to Trump’s inaugural committee).
Additionally, three writers quit the Post’s editorial board late last year after Bezos pulled an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election. More than 250,000 people reportedly canceled their subscriptions in protest of the editorial decision.
Citing internal Washington Post data, Semafor reported that traffic to the newspaper’s website has collapsed over the last year. The Post reached its peak in January 2021 at 22.5 million active users, but that number cratered to around 2.5 to 3 million users by mid-2024.
Similarly, citing internal sources at the paper, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Post took in $190 million in ad sales in 2023, but that dropped to $174 million in 2024.
Along with his Trump donations and editorial decisions, Bezos has publicly lavished praise on Trump since his election win.
“Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory,” Bezos wrote on X. “No nation has bigger opportunities. Wishing [Trump] all success in leading and uniting the America we all love.”
But the recent backlash isn’t unique to the Post. At MSNBC, ratings went down after the election, and hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump in an attempt to patch up their rocky relationship.
So far, the media’s cozying up to Trump appears to be bad for business. Let’s see if that continues into his second term.