The Post's Opinion Parting
In the days leading up to his shocking exit last week, Adam O’Neal gave no indication he was on his way out as The Washington Post’s Opinion editor. In recent private conversations, Status has learned, he struck precisely the opposite tone, sounding triumphant and boasting that he had pushed the paper’s storied opinion section further to the right. People who spoke with O’Neal told Status he appeared energized by his work at the newspaper and were stunned when he abruptly announced his departure.
O’Neal was known for striking such confident tones in private. As Status previously reported, he told confidants last year that he expected to remain at the Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper for decades—going as far as to declare that it would likely be his final job in journalism.
On Friday, his own prediction collapsed. By The Post’s account, O’Neal’s decision to exit was entirely his own. He portrayed it that way in his farewell memo, writing that he’d led the section “as it began a new chapter”—even if he didn’t stay to finish the book. Current chief executive Jeff D’Onofrio struck a similar tone in his own memo, thanking O’Neal for the changes he made. By that telling, everything was going according to plan. Then, on a quiet summer Friday afternoon, O’Neal simply decided it was time to move on.
Of course, there is likely more to the story. For one, the timing lines up with a couple of pressure points: O’Neal’s one-year mark on the job, and department budget proposals that Status has learned are due in just weeks, a process that typically brings sharper scrutiny of spending across the newsroom.
For their part, staffers received the official explanation shortly after O’Neal announced his departure. During an 11:30 am all-hands meeting, he told Opinion staffers that he was leaving for personal family reasons, I’m told. But his explanation only deepened the confusion inside the section, given how sharply it contrasted with O’Neal’s posture in the days and weeks prior.
O’Neal did not respond to a request for comment on his abrupt departure, nor did a spokesperson for Bezos. A Post spokesperson did not provide a comment.
Of course, O’Neal’s willingness to aggressively execute Bezos’ vision for the Opinion section was precisely why he had been handpicked for the job by the billionaire owner and then-publisher Will Lewis. Before arriving at The Post, the 34-year-old had limited management experience, having worked as a correspondent at The Economist and an editorial writer at The Wall Street Journal. He also spent a rocky year as executive editor of The Dispatch, where his tenure drew internal criticism, as Status previously reported.
Over the last year, O’Neal sought to transform the Opinion section into the embodiment of Bezos’ mandate to champion “free markets and personal liberties.” He oversaw layoffs, brought in conservative voices, expanded video content, and steered the department toward a more overtly contrarian identity—one that repeatedly drew backlash inside the newsroom. In his Friday memo, O’Neal specifically thanked both Bezos and D’Onofrio and argued that the strategy was beginning to pay off.
“During my first six months, Opinions users more than doubled their time spent on the site; editorial pageviews grew by triple-digits year over year; and both subscription starts and entrances from search ticked up,” he wrote.
Bezos, for his part, has pushed the newsroom to make data a more central part of its editorial decision-making. And it’s fair to wonder whether O’Neal’s numbers held up as well behind closed doors as they did in his own telling.
That gap was most apparent in O’Neal’s awkward push into video, an initiative that has struggled to gain meaningful traction. The Post invested in a studio setup for the opinion section’s “Make It Make Sense” podcast, with the video gear alone costing the paper $80,000, as Status has reported, as part of a broader effort to build a personality-driven video operation. The investment became a source of frustration among newsroom staffers after layoffs decimated their ranks in February. Despite the expense, the show’s YouTube channel has attracted only about 1,600 subscribers since launch. Some employees have also questioned the strategy behind producing culture-war programming in an already crowded conservative media ecosystem. One staffer bluntly called the project “a total embarrassment.”
In any case, O’Neal’s departure now leaves the Opinion section wondering what comes next—and whether Bezos’ mandated ideological overhaul will continue under a new leader. In his own Friday memo, D’Onofrio wrote that “over the coming weeks, we will work to transition Post Opinions leadership,” while praising O’Neal for making the section “more balanced in perspective, more financially sustainable and more accessible to readers than ever before.”
Multiple staffers told Status that they believe deputy opinion editor James Hohmann is among the most likely internal candidates to succeed O’Neal. But Hohmann’s prominent role alongside O’Neal on the “Make It Make Sense” podcast has led some staffers to wonder whether he would continue the same controversial experiments—or end them.
Meanwhile, in a notable move, The Post published its own news story on Friday announcing O’Neal’s departure, something the newsroom did not do when Lewis departed his role as chief executive and publisher earlier this year after the publication declared it would no longer cover itself.
The reaction to the story was telling. There appeared to be no love lost for O’Neal among many Post readers. By Sunday afternoon, more than 500 comments had accumulated beneath the article, with many celebrating the news. “Good riddance to bad rubbish,” one commenter wrote. Another declared that “the destruction of the Post’s opinion section took no time at all,” while a third put it more bluntly: “No other way to put it, Adam, but you failed.”
Dana Bash interviews Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on “State of the Union.” (Screen grab via CNN)
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got into a heated argument with CNN’s Dana Bash, claiming “there was absolute press malpractice” during COVID and accusing the anchor of not “doing your job.” [Mediaite]
Bash pressed Kennedy on how the nation should prepare for a future pandemic, to which the Health secretary responded that the “primary obligation” should be to “protect our constitutional rights.” Bash responded, “I’m asking about a potential public health crisis.”
CNN published a fact check of the interview that reported Kennedy had pushed “medical misinformation.” [CNN]
The NYT revealed that one of its freelance reporters, Matthew Cole, has been fighting a subpoena from Donald Trump’s Justice Department since February, as part of the administration’s effort to force him to reveal his sources for a story about a failed secret mission in North Korea. [NYT]
In response, Reporters Committee President Bruce D. Brown noted that over the last 25 years, “There have only been three attempts in national security leaks cases to force reporters to name their sources.” Now, he added, “We have four attempts—that we know of—in the space of a few months.”
David Ellison’s Paramount has “no plans” to part with CNN, Jessica Toonkel and Joe Flint reported, amid increasingly public discussion over whether it could spin off the network in a bid to resolve its antitrust battle with states. [WSJ]
The company is “still discussing whether to bring CNN and CBS together or operate them separately” if its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery successfully closes.
👀 Ellison “still trusts” CBS News boss Bari Weiss, the report said.
Elsewhere in Ellison land, a sweeping NYT Magazine story on Larry Ellison portrays the Oracle founder as one of the most consequential, and exposed, figures in the A.I. boom. [NYT]
The story, which wonders whether he will be the “face of the A.I. bubble,” comes as Oracle shares have plunged nearly 50% in the past year.
Former “60 Minutes” chief Bill Owens wants to launch a rival news show with Scott Pelley and other departed staffers, Alexandra Steigrad reported. A person close to Owens denied the report. [NYP]
Meanwhile, former correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi teased a new role in a post on Instagram, which she is set to announce later this week. [Instagram]
Trouble in paradise? Trump publicly rebuked Jeanine Pirro, saying on Truth Social that he “100% disagrees” with her blaming shoddy construction for damage at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. [NYT]
Trump Media is officially selling paying traders early access to Trump’s often market-moving posts on his social media platform, along with other high-profile users. The fee of up to $100,000 has raised concerns over potential insider trading. [NPR]
Savannah Guthrie posted a lengthy message “begging for help” as the search for her mother, Nancy, passed six months. “We are desperate. We need someone to come forward. Someone knows something. Someone suspects something,” she wrote. [Instagram]
The WSJ published a lengthy investigation that detailed a “trail of missteps” in the investigation into Nancy’s disappearance, including a lengthy delay in examining dried blood on her front porch. [WSJ]
Marjorie Taylor Greene posted a photo with Tucker Carlson, Brian Glenn, Thomas Massie, and Joe Kent, declaring that Trump “betrayed us all” and, in response, “the movement has begun.” [Instagram]
James Carville told Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich that he would refuse to “be in the same party with Hasan Piker,” declaring that if the streamer “becomes a force in a Democratic Party, I’m out of here.” [Mediaite]
Tom Holland and Zendaya in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” (Sony Pictures Entertainment)
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” romped to an estimated $355 million domestic debut, nearly toppling the opening weekend record of $357 million set by 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.”
The Tom Holland- and Zendaya-led film could still end up breaking that record if Monday’s final tally lands above Sunday’s estimates.
Spidey’s also-eye-popping $927 million global tally similarly gives it the second-highest mark there, behind “Endgame.”
Meanwhile, “The Odyssey” scored $51 million in its third weekend, down just over 40% from last weekend—an impressive feat, especially as the release of “Spider-Man” reduced the number of screens it played on. The Christopher Nolan epic is rapidly approaching $1 billion in global box-office revenue.
Together, “Spider-Man” and “The Odyssey” powered the biggest box office weekend in history, with around $430 million across all movies.
“We have now conquered a box-office milestone [that] seemed forever out of reach,” Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends at Rentrak, posted on X.
The latest episode of Power Lines is out.
In this week’s episode: Bari Weiss and Nick Bilton are reshaping “60 Minutes,” announcing Ross Douthat as a correspondent and others as contributors. We broke the news—now we detail what industry insiders are saying and offer our own analysis.
Plus, we discuss MAGA Media’s smearing of Dr. Anthony Fauci, Hunter Biden’s sit-down chat with Nick Fuentes, and ABC’s strong words for the FCC. Finally, Oliver shares his major “Odyssey” complaint for AMC Theatres boss Adam Aron.
You can watch on YouTube—or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoy the program, subscribe so you never miss an episode!
