Washington Post Opinion Pages to Focus on Personal Liberties, Free Markets
For years, Spotlight PR has assisted clients and partners in crafting and placing opinion essays. Given its significance and circulation size, it is not unusual for clients to request that we pitch their opinion pieces to the Washington Post. This wasn’t always easy.
Years ago, Washington Post Deputy Opinion Page Editor Michael Larabee told me that the Washington Post receives so many submissions that it will often take the very first, well-written essay on a topic. Even compelling essays submitted as early as a day after breaking news, were not guaranteed placement.
What We Do
Spotlight works with leaders and organizations committed to social good. This means that we often submit opinion editorials on issues such as voting rights, education justice, climate justice, and more. We often request and arrange editorial board meetings. The individuals we work with are leading incredible work and benefit from their advocacy being highlighted on the opinion pages of media outlets.
Shift at The Post
However, an editorial shift at the Washington Post may mean that the opinion section there may publish even fewer essays highlighting issues of racial and social justice.
Washington Post Owner Jeff Bezos recently announced that the paper’s opinion essay section will publish essays on “personal liberties” and “free markets.” Opinion essays that oppose personal liberties and free markets will not be published at The Post.
“We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets,” Bezos wrote on Twitter. “We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others. There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader’s doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views. Today, the internet does that job.”
Fall Out
The shift may have prompted Washington Post Opinion Editor David Shipley to resign.
This is shocking but we are processing what this means not only for opinion essays but also for editorial board meetings with The Post. In the past, Spotlight has arranged editorial board meetings with the paper on gun violence and voting rights. We worked with Fred Hiatt, the publication’s editorial page editor from 1999 to 2021 when he passed away.
We will keep you updated even as we continue to present other publications for consideration for opinion editorials. There are a host of viable alternatives, including independent and progressive media. No matter what, we will secure placement for your thought leadership and brilliant work.
You can learn more about the changing direction at The Post here and here. To learn more about other shifts in the media landscape, and how you should respond, see this article.
Jennifer R. Farmer, aka The PR Whisperer®, is the principal of Spotlight PR LLC. Be sure to check out other blogs and subscribe for regular communications updates.