CNN reports that Jennifer Rubin is the latest writer to leave the Washington Post: Jen Rubin exits Washington Post, joins Norm Eisen to launch new outlet countering ‘authoritarian threat’
Veteran opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin is becoming the latest in a long list of Washington Post figures to leave the troubled institution.
Rubin is partnering with former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen and launching something new: a startup publication called The Contrarian.
The startup’s tagline, “Not owned by anybody,” is a pointed reference to billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and other moguls who, in Rubin’s view, have “bent the knee” to President-elect Donald Trump.
“Our goal is to combat, with every fiber of our being, the authoritarian threat that we face,” Rubin told CNN in an interview ahead of the publication’s introduction.
Rubin is not the just the co-founder, she will be editor-in-chief!
And yes, that cartoon was the last straw:
[Rubin] said a major factor in her exit was the Post’s recent refusal to publish a satirical cartoon by Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes showing Bezos and others on bended knee.
When I saw this, I immediately signed up (there is a free option; later on I will probably become a paid subscriber). Here’s a bit from their press release:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen launched The Contrarian, a new independent media project unencumbered by corporate interests. The Contrarian will feature both political and cultural commentary in defense of democracy with multiple daily Substack columns, a YouTube channel, podcasts, and more. . . .
“Our vision for The Contrarian is a defiant and uncompromising platform free from false equivalence,” said Eisen. “The voices we’ll be featuring are diverse across parties and generations, connected by the shared belief that we need an unshackled media in order to meet this moment, as we face an existential threat to American democracy.”
In her first column, Jen explains why she quit the WaPo:
Corporate and billionaire owners of major media outlets have betrayed their audiences’ loyalty and sabotaged journalism’s sacred mission — defending, protecting and advancing democracy. The Washington Post’s billionaire owner and enlisted management are among the offenders. They have undercut the values central to The Post’s mission and that of all journalism: integrity, courage, and independence. I cannot justify remaining at The Post.
Support The Contrarian!