Another high profile contributor reportedly leaves the Washington Post amid fallout from editorial changes
Capehart, who won a Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing with the New York Daily News in 1999, has served as an editorial writer for the Washington Post for over 18 years. He was a member of the editorial board until 2022, when he left the board over a dispute about an editorial on Georgia's voting laws. He is leaving the paper after accepting a buyout, Axios reported Monday.
The columnist, who also hosts the MSNBC Show "Weekends with Jonathan Capehart" and provides commentary on the PBS "NewsHour," is the latest high-profile Washington Post editorial contributor to exit the paper.
A glut of writers -- Ann Telnaes, David Shipley, Ruth Marcus, Eugene Robinson and, just earlier this month, Joe Davidson – all departed the beltway paper as concerns mount over the Washington Post's editorial slant taking a rightward shift following President Trump's re-election.
Following Trump's re-election, Washington Post owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced that the editorial section of the paper would be changing course, prompting then-opinion editor David Shipley to leave.
"We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We'll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others," Bezos posted on X in Feb 2025.
Bezos' changes led to a sharp backlash in his newsroom, with staffers telling Fox News Digital earlier this month that morale has collapsed at the paper. Washington Post Executive Editor Matt Murray announced a buyout program for staffers seeking to leave the paper in May.
"People are shellshocked and keeping their heads down," one Post staffer told Fox News Digital.
Washington Post publisher and CEO Will Lewis sent a memo to staff encouraging those who took issue with the paper's new editorial direction to take the buyouts.
"I understand and respect, however, that our chosen path is not for everyone, that's exactly why we introduced the voluntary separation program. As we continue in this new direction, I want to ask those who do not feel aligned with the company's plan to reflect on that," Lewis wrote in the memo.
Davidson, a post contributor who authored the Post's "Federal Insider" column for 17 years, announced he was quitting the paper in a Facebook post titled "Quitting The Washington Post -- or did it quit me?" He said that he decided to exit the paper after having a column rejected for being "too opinionated."
Capehart's relationship with the Washington Post has been increasingly acrimonious. In his recent memoir, "Yet Here I Am: Lessons from a Black Man's Search for Home," the former columnist trashed many of his colleagues at The Post's editorial board. He accused Washington Post editorial board member Karen Tumulty of "robbing me of my humanity" in a disagreement over language used in an op-ed.
The former Washington Post contributor has a history of vicious anti-Trump criticism. At one point, he said that MAGA was far more "worrisome" for the country than any foreign threat America could face in a 2021 segment on PBS NewsHour.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Washington Post and Capehart for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
a minute ago
- Fox News
Migrant deportation flights launch from ‘Alligator Alcatraz'
Fox News' Madison Scarpino reports on migrant deportation flights departing from 'Alligator Alcatraz.' The Heritage Foundation's Lora Ries joins 'Fox News Live' to discuss the Trump administration's lawsuit against a sanctuary city.
Fox News
a minute ago
- Fox News
Incoming NGA Chair 'disappointed' in Dem governors 'playing politics' in bipartisan group
Colorado Springs, Colo. – Incoming chair of the National Governors Association (NGA), Gov. Kevin Stitt, R-Okla., is "disappointed" that some Democratic governors might stop paying their dues to the bipartisan group. The Atlantic reported ahead of the NGA's summer meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo., that at least two Democrats, Govs. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Laura Kelly of Kansas, plan to stop paying their dues when asked to renew their membership this month over the NGA's response to President Donald Trump's second term. "We shouldn't be playing politics like they do in Washington, D.C.," Stitt told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview at the summer meeting. "But sometimes, if you're a governor running for president or a higher office, you make it political." Kelly is chair of the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), the partisan gubernatorial arm that has been vocal in resisting the Trump administration. As Walz weighs a third gubernatorial run, the former vice presidential candidate has remained a leading critic of Trump's administration since losing the White House alongside Vice President Kamala Harris last year. The Democratic discontent comes as Democratic Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado prepares to cede his chairmanship to Stitt, a Republican, at this weekend's summer meeting. Gov. Wes Moore, D-Md., is set to become vice chair. "I would tell anybody, listen, do you want your leaders to take their ball and go home just because they get mad at something? That's not the way to solve problems," Stitt said, adding that he likes both Walz and Kelly. "Listen, this isn't the time to take our ball and go home. Let's sit down and debate what the best policies [are] going forward," Stitt added. The Oklahoma governor said it can be "frustrating" when Democrats are constantly targeting Trump, but as a business leader, he said there are plenty of instances in which governors can find common ground, including a reduction of the United States' more than $36 trillion in debt. Ahead of the summer meeting, Eric Wohlschlegel, NGA communications director, emphasized the bipartisan nature of the NGA and told Fox News Digital the NGA's "mission hasn't changed." According to The Atlantic report, Democratic members of the NGA complained the group "did not respond forcefully enough" when the Trump administration paused federal funding early this year, as Gov. Janet Mills of Maine clashed with Trump over biological men playing in women's sports and, more recently, when Trump authorized the National Guard to California to amid the anti-ICE protests. "Every public statement NGA issues reflects bipartisan consensus. So far this year, all but one statement has had that consensus, and when governors don't agree, we simply don't issue one. That's how we preserve our role as a bipartisan convener, a principle we won't compromise," Wohlschlegel explained. Thirteen Republican and seven Democratic leaders planned to attend the summer meeting, featuring discussions with Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A source familiar with the situation blamed the controversy on "Democratic infighting, unspoken campaign jockeying and a few anonymous voices looking to reshape a nonpartisan institution into a political one." The source added that "no governors are on the record expressing discontent with the NGA. No allegations of misconduct, governance failure or mismanagement have been raised." And without addressing the controversy directly, Conor Cahill, a spokesperson for Polis, told Fox News Digital the governor "has been honored" to lead the NGA and to "work across the aisle with governors on education, permitting reform, standing up to federal efforts to strip away gubernatorial authority around the National Guard and elevating the priorities of states." He added that "during this polarizing time, bipartisan organizations are needed more than ever, and NGA must continue to demonstrate value to all governors and effectively communicate governors' opinions on various matters with the public and the federal government." Abegail Cave, a spokesperson for Stitt, told Fox News Digital ahead of the NGA that "people seem to forget NGA is a bipartisan organization, not a political one." Fox News Digital reached out to Walz and Kelly for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Forbes
a minute ago
- Forbes
Apple's Surprise Free Offer To iPhone 13 Users Is Now Live For iPhones
Updated July 26 with more details of T-Satellite. When Apple made the surprise announcement that its iPhone 13 series was suddenly compatible with carrier-supported satellite connectivity, it was ushering in a new way to stay connected. The first network to support this, T-Mobile, has just gone live with its new T-Satellite service for iPhones and other handsets. And even a temporary outage hasn't stopped the new service from arriving. More on that below. Apple iPhone 13 Pro T-Satellite works by connecting your phone to Starlink satellites (though, please note, it doesn't install Starlink on your phone as rumor-mongers previously claimed). T-Mobile's CEO Mike Sievert said in a post on X, 'Today marks a huge step in @TMobile's mission to end dead zones. T-Satellite is officially out of beta and available to anyone who wants it — including Verizon and AT&T customers,' he exclaimed. That's an important point: subscribers on other networks can sign up to T-Satellite by paying a monthly fee. Note that Verizon and AT&T are expected to offer their own versions of this service, but for now, T-Mobile has first-mover advantage. 'With 650+ satellites in orbit, the largest satellite-to-mobile constellation on the planet aims to connect you almost anywhere you can see the sky. It's already helping save lives during disasters and providing an extra level of safety for those who love to explore the great outdoors,' Sievert goes on. The service is available for compatible handsets, and that includes most current Android phones as well as all iPhones from iPhone 13 onwards. It went live on Wednesday, July 23, right on schedule — though had already been offered to customers impacted by the recent floods in Texas — and the new service has been called a game-changer because, unlike rival satellite options, including Apple's own Globalstar service, it doesn't require users to point their phone at the satellite. It works just like regular cell connections do, even in your pocket. The next day, Thursday, July 24, Starlink experienced an outage for more than two hours, with full service more or less restored by 5 p.m. Pacific the same day. "The outage was due to failure of key internal software services that operate the core network," Starlink's VP of engineering Michael Nicolls said on X. Not much more is known now, though it's believed it affected tens of thousands of people, some of whom could have been T-Satellite users. By Friday, July 26, SpaceX, which runs Starlink, was searching for the root cause of the issue. Users in the U.S. and Europe were affected and Downdetector, the crowd-sourced outage tracker claims that as many as 61,000 people reported issues. It even affected Ukraine, where combat operations saw the service go down. The cause, it was speculated, could have been a botched software update, a cyberattack or some other kind of glitch. If T-Mobile is your carrier and you have the Experience Beyond service, you get this new capability included. Others, including AT&T and Verizon customers, can access the service for $10 per month. The T-Mobile satellite service is limited to texting with iMessage and SMS, and data is not supported, though more capabilities may follow. The T-Satellite service means that if you are outside the regular cellular network, your phone is able to remain connected via satellite, for text messages on compatible iPhones and Android handsets. More services will be added in due course but already other features are available to Android users, including multimedia messaging, picture messaging, and short audio clips. For now, this is the beginning of a new way to stay in touch wherever you are, even if your phone is in your pocket.
