Washington Post Sees 75K Subscriptions Canceled SINCE WEDNESDAY. Have You Canceled Yet?

By: Desmond Price

Is this the end of the Washington Post? Is traditional corporate media going extinct? I hope so…but let’s first talk about why this is happening.

More than 75,000 digital subscribers to The Washington Post have cancelled since its owner, billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced on Wednesday that he would radically overhaul the paper's opinion pages to reflect libertarian priorities and to exclude opposing points of view.

Wednesday's announcement led to the immediate resignation of Opinions Editor David Shipley. He had vainly sought to persuade Bezos to drop the plans, according to a person with direct knowledge.

Bezos' decision also prompted an outcry from longtime Post figures, including Associate Editor David Maraniss and former Executive Editor Marty Baron. Baron called the move "craven" and told Zeteo News that Bezos, whom he praised extensively in his 2023 memoir, was "basically fearful" of President Trump.

The rapid-fire cancellations since Wednesday represent a historic level of reader fury over the changes. Yet they are only the most recent wave in a series of mass cancellations that began in late October.

That was when Bezos killed a planned endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Between then and Election Day, more than 300,000 subscribers canceled the Post, as NPR first reported last month. That was more than 12% of digital subscribers, which make up the vast majority of the paper's paid circulation.

Source - NPR

I first came across the beginnings of this story a few days ago, when a reporter I admire from WaPo - Jeff Stein, shared this news on his Twitter (X) feed. He mentioned that he was troubled by this, but so far, it doesn’t seem like it will infringe on the “news” side of WaPo, just the opinion side.

Personally, I do not think you can downplay censorship, regardless of what section of the publication it is. Bezos is clearly stating the publication will no longer allow for any speech that does not support “personal liberties and free markets”

Look, I have no idea how he plans to interpret that, but it sounds awfully right-wing coded to me. Also, could someone please provide me on an example where this billionaire owned paper was actually promoting socialism or communism? What an absolute joke.

However, before we go any further, let’s take a look at the statement Bezos made regarding the shift at the Washington Post ⬇️

“I am of America and for America” - I always love how tyrants find the most flowery ways to obfuscate their actions.

This is censorship. Let’s not make it more complicated than that. Not just censorship, but censorship of a particular ideology.

To be honest, I’m surprised it took this long, but that’s exactly what it is. This is exactly where we are at in 2025, with billionaires finding new ways to demand consent from society & attempt to silence dissent.

When one of the richest men in human history, took over the Washington Post years ago, I thought it was inevitable that we would eventually get to a place where any speech that seemed to be against the status quo would be squashed.

Not that the Washington Post has been some beacon of true liberation or honest journalism, but we’ve also never seen a crackdown like this before.

Just out of curiosity, are any of you subscribers to the Washington Post, or happen to know someone who is? No judgement at all, I know people have a variety of reasons for being subscribed to corporate media. I’m just genuinely curious. Please comment below

Ditch Corporate Media

Let’s rewind the clock to…yesterday.

Yesterday, when we all gathered here to talk about the economic blackout & how liberating that was to stick it to the billionaires.

Yesterday, when we all collectively agreed that fighting back meant challenging the billionaire class & their agenda. If you weren’t here yesterday, here’s the post I’m referencing ⬇️

Nothing has changed since yesterday, but I want to highlight an intersection between these two stories.

Jeff Bezos is not an anomaly in the corporate media landscape. The entire industry is FILLED with billionaires, private equity, Wall Street suits & massive conglomerates waiting to syphon corporate cash for advertising dollars.

Their coverage of the news reflects that & it’s just another arm of the billionaire class’ power. Through these massive readerships, the oligarchs are able to shape the narrative of every story.

It’s time to break free from that!

A lot of you have already started that process.

You’re here on Substack. This probably isn’t the only independent news source you subscribe to & I think that is fantastic! We need to be investing into independent voices. Now is the time to actively make a change.

Not just by showing up and reading their work, but also sharing it with friends & supporting financially.

What are some of your favorite independent news sources? Please comment below! I’d love to hear what other news outlets you’re diving into.

That is our way forward. Ditching the reliance we collectively have on corporate media & investing into independent voices, who are actively trying to combat fascism, empower the working class & move our society away from this status quo.

Let’s ditch these corporate chains, that are filled with oligarchs like Bezos, making an obvious right-wing push. Let’s invest in the media that actually invests in us.

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In Closing

I wanted to take a quick moment to talk a little bit about Independent Thought.

I’ve been hosting this account since January 2020. This started out as nothing more than a podcast for me to shout into the aether about my frustrations with the 2020 primary elections. For full disclosure, I was team Bernie all the way.

In 2021, I started investing more into the podcast by having on a slew of guests throughout that year & increasing our presence on Instagram. To this day, some of my favorite things I’ve done with Independent Thought came from the timeframe of early 2021 - mid 2022.

In 2022, I found myself investing more into video episodes & doing live panel debates on Twitch & YouTube. I’m still awkward AF on camera, but at least it’s not as painful as it was during this time. I honestly cannot go back and watch those old videos still on my YouTube channel.

In 2023, I joined a YouTube channel called The Left Wing & got to meet and work with a variety of amazing creators. I have since left that show, but I thought it was a great experience for me. To this day, I truly believe that the left spectrum of political content creators needs more collaboration amongst them. There’s so many of us, yet we’re all off doing our own thing. I honestly believe our lack of collaboration is a detriment to our movement.

In 2024, I found myself doubling down on my own YouTube presence, increasing my output on my Instagram account & starting my journey here on Substack. 2024 was a truly transformative year for me on so many levels, but I honestlt believe it’s biggest contribution was setting the stage for what’s about to come next.

This year, I’m hoping to increase what we do here on Substack & hopefully start interviewing folks again like I used to. I wouldn’t say that I’m particularly good at conducting interviews, but it is something I enjoy. It’s incredible what working class people have to go through to run for office, especially when they are running without corporate money.

Over the years I have interviewed:

• 15 people running for Congress

Quick side note - I interviewed a man named Santa Claus (who does in fact look like Santa Claus) who ran for Congress in Alaska in 2022 against Sarah Palin. Definitely one of my favorite interviews to date.

• 3 people running for their City Council

• 2 people running for Mayor

• 2 people running for Governor

• 1 person running for Municipal Judge

It’s my hope to reincorporate that into Substack in the not too distant future. It may sound a little early to some, but I think it’s already time to start thinking about the 2026 primaries & some Democrats need to be challenged for their seats.

I would love nothing more to help facilitate that process & shine a light of candidates that need extra attention.

If you would like to contribute to the work that we do here & also receive access to all of our upcoming bonus content, please consider joining our paid tier.

I know sometimes people feel like they shouldn’t have to pay for the news or maybe they just don’t think it’s worth the money, but I hope that those of you who feel that way, will reconsider.

It takes a lot of work to maintain these platforms, and most of us do this work with absolutely no budget, no sponsorships & absolutely no corporate/billionaire funding. My ONLY funding for I.T. comes from the folks who have signed up for paid subscriptions.

If you have the ability, please consider joining our paid tier and let’s directly challenge the corporate media by divesting in them, and simultaneously empowering voices we believe in.

Until next time,

Desmond

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