…[#MartyBaron said], #Bezos’ closer proximity to #Trump at the inauguration & through #Amazon’s production deal on a #MelaniaTrump documentary did not appear to fulfill his public goal of increasing the #WashingtonPost’s independence. “It was a sign of dependence, not independence—the dependence of Amazon, #BlueOrigin & Bezos on Donald Trump," he wrote.

“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.”

“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.

#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.

#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.

Maraniss said: “I find this contemptible. #MartyBaron is right. This is an act not of benign neutrality but of #cowardice in the face of the biggest challenge to #democracy in our post-WWII lifetimes.

“#BenBradlee, ten years dead, is mightily p---ed in his grave.”

“This is #cowardice, a moment of darkness that will leave #democracy as a casualty. Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate The Post’s owner, #JeffBezos (& other media owners),” former Post executive editor #MartyBaron, who led the paper while #Trump was president, said in a text message to The Post. “History will mark a disturbing chapter of #spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”

“This is #cowardice, w/ #democracy as its casualty,” #MartyBaron said in a post…. He added that #Trump would see it as an invitation to continue to try to intimidate #JeffBezos. “Disturbing #spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.”

#WaPo’s move follows unfurling tumult at The #LATimes, where the head of the editorial board & 2 of its writers have resigned this week to protest the decision by the owner, the #billionaire #PatrickSoonShiong, to block a planned presidential #endorsement.

The #WashingtonPost’s editorial writers had already drafted an #endorsement of VP #KamalaHarris for president….

#WaPo’s editorial board had contacted the #Harris campaign & the #Trump campaign to request interviews ahead of its decision to endorse…. Harris declined the interview & the Trump campaign didn’t respond….

WaPo’s decision drew immediate blowback on social media, including from #MartyBaron, the recent editor of WaPo who led the paper through a period of editorial & business success.