PERSPECTIVE – Letter to Jeff Bezos

February 13, 2026

Dear Mr. Bezos:

I am addressing you here as owner of the former Washington Post. If “Democracy dies in darkness,” as the Post’s tagline claimed, you just turned off the light.

Your destruction of the Washington Post is nothing short of a national and historic tragedy. The Post was more than D.C.’s home town paper, it was our national insight into our government and a touchstone for political news. Remember Watergate, the Pentagon Papers? Those investigations came from the Post. It also gave us intelligent, well-written articles on books, sports from local high school football to the city’s pro teams, science, advice on political etiquette, the best local restaurants from where to rub shoulders with Senators to the freshest blue crab, and, of course, international news and U.S. news beyond the federal government. All of this greatness owed its foundation to Katherine Meyer Graham, who inherited her family’s newspaper after the death of her husband in 1963. This at a time when a woman’s role in business was a fight for respect and to be heard. She succeeded and wisely hired Ben Bradlee as Managing, then later, Executive Editor. They, along with the staff they attracted, created the paper that you have just managed to destroy. A newspaper that had thrived on a collegial atmosphere and true journalistic rigor. Yes, there was a major error in 1980, and minor ones more recently that, in fact, did not change the intent of the president to ‘find’ the votes he needed. This was authenticated in his recorded conversation with Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger.

A democratic society needs such a newspaper to tell us the truth when our government won’t. Your blind eye (probably more like being in bed with, to mix metaphors) toward the corruption of this administration is just one small example of your jumping through the Trump hoop. I suspect your destruction of the Post is part of that charade. You’ve destroyed any legacy you might have had. Now, you’ll only be known as that super-rich guy that doesn’t even know how to manage a newspaper.

Needless to say, I, along with thousands of others, have canceled my subscription. I did this once before after you refused to endorse Kamala Harris, but I rejoined more recently mainly for the Books and Climate columns. This time, I’m gone for good and will certainly never trust you again in reference to journalism or your management/leadership qualities, which appear to have sunk to a new low.

With extreme disrespect,

Doann Houghton-Alico