In Will Lewis’ first year at ‘Washington Post,’ readers and staffers flee : NPR

One debacle after one other has engulfed The Washington Publish since veteran newspaper government Will Lewis grew to become CEO and writer a 12 months in the past this month, with the cost from proprietor Jeff Bezos to make the storied newspaper financially sustainable.

The appointment of a brand new government editor was botched. A killed presidential endorsement led lots of of hundreds of subscribers to cancel. High reporters and editors left. Scandals involving Lewis’ actions as a information government years in the past within the U.Okay. reemerged. A transparent imaginative and prescient to safe the Publish’s monetary future stays elusive.

Frustration boiled over on Tuesday evening. Greater than 400 Publish journalists, together with some editors, signed a petition asking Bezos to intervene.

“We’re deeply alarmed by current management choices which have led readers to query the integrity of this establishment, damaged with a practice of transparency, and prompted a few of our most distinguished colleagues to go away,” it reads, partially.

The petition by no means cites Lewis by identify, nevertheless it reads as a pointy indictment of his management. By means of a spokesperson, Lewis and the Publish declined remark for this story. A consultant of Bezos didn’t return a request for remark.

For this story, NPR interviewed 10 Washington Publish staffers contained in the newsroom and on the enterprise aspect of the paper, together with some who didn’t signal the petition. They agreed to talk to NPR underneath situation of anonymity for concern of repercussions contained in the paper.

They are saying the backlash in opposition to Lewis encompasses Bezos to a point, as he has publicly warmed as much as President-elect Donald Trump. (The Publish declined remark.)

Billionaire Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Publish, spoke throughout the New York Instances DealBook summit in December. “I am pleased with the choice we made, and it was removed from cowardly,” he mentioned of his determination to not let the newspaper endorse Vice President Kamala Harris earlier than the election.

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Pictures/Getty Pictures North America

disguise caption

toggle caption

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Pictures/Getty Pictures North America

Bezos’ determination to kill a deliberate endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris simply days earlier than the November election led greater than 300,000 subscribers to cancel, wiping out rather more modest features The Publish had achieved underneath Lewis. (A spokesperson says The Publish has satisfied about 20% of these cancelling over the endorsement to stay subscribers.)

The choice additionally led to some resignations. Current days on the Publish have witnessed the continuation of a months-long parade of exits of extremely regarded newsroom veterans — most lately, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Rosalind Helderman, investigative reporter Josh Dawsey and columnist Jennifer Rubin. Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes quit after her sketch displaying Bezos kneeling earlier than Trump with a bag of cash was rejected.

The tech titan’s enterprise pursuits, together with Amazon Internet Companies and the house firm Blue Origin, obtain billions of {dollars} from federal contracts. He is given $1 million towards Trump’s inauguration prices and traveled to Mar-a-Lago along with his fiancée to satisfy with the president-elect. Amazon Studios agreed to pay Melania Trump hundreds of thousands of {dollars} for a documentary venture about her, according to Puck News. Come Monday, Bezos is anticipated to hitch Trump advisor Elon Musk and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg on the inauguration platform itself.

After blocking publication of the Publish‘s endorsement of Harris, Bezos admitted that he, along with his many enterprises, was a “complexifier” for the paper. However he mentioned these pursuits had nothing to do along with his determination, as an alternative pointing to plummeting public belief within the media.

“We should work more durable to manage what we will management to extend our credibility,” Bezos wrote in an opinion piece for the Publish. “By itself, declining to endorse presidential candidates will not be sufficient to maneuver us very far up the belief scale, nevertheless it’s a significant step in the correct course.”

The Publish‘s reporting, from the Pentagon Papers to Watergate to January 6, locations it among the many pantheon of significant American journalistic establishments. However it’s a diminished outlet on the eve of Trump’s second inauguration.

Bezos was seen because the paper’s savior when he bought it in 2013 and as a champion of journalism throughout the first Trump time period. Many individuals on the Publish retain hope that Bezos will assist the paper return to kind. The petition states that the query of the presidential endorsement is “the proprietor’s prerogative.”

But it asks for Bezos’s renewed give attention to the paper.

“We perceive the necessity for change and we’re desirous to ship the information in modern methods,” the letter states. “However we want a transparent imaginative and prescient we will consider in.”

Lewis’ conservative credentials enchantment to Bezos

Lewis’ report on the Wall Road Journal — he had been its writer and chief government — appealed to Bezos. The Journal’s digital subscriptions soared throughout his tenure, enabling it to seek out agency footing.

Challenges on the Publish, in distinction, had been mounting. In late 2023, on the eve of Lewis’ arrival, the Publish bought out 10 percent of its workforce.

Moreover, as Trump’s return to Washington appeared extra doubtless, Lewis additionally appealed to Bezos due to his ease in dealing with conservative figures. This account is derived from two folks with direct information of Bezos’ pondering who spoke on the situation that they weren’t named, as they weren’t approved to debate the matter publicly.

Lewis had been editor of the conservative Telegraph newspaper in London, intently aligned with the Tory social gathering. The Journal is managed by Rupert Murdoch, for whom Lewis additionally labored within the U.Okay. And through a break between media jobs, Lewis had consulted for then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

On the Publish, Lewis initially loved a heat welcome. He charmed his new colleagues and promised to show issues round. That enchantment soured over revelations he had repeatedly pressured then-Govt Editor Sally Buzbee to not cowl damning allegations about his work for Murdoch in London greater than a decade in the past. Lewis had previously pressured NPR to not report its story that had initially drawn Buzbee’s consideration.

Lewis has rejected the allegations. He additionally has denied inappropriately pressuring Buzbee and known as me “an activist, not a journalist.”

Buzbee left final spring; Lewis’s alternative for government editor, a former colleague, ran aground in June on tough scrutiny of ethical questions surrounding the journalism they did collectively within the U.Okay.

Reporters say Lewis snapped at them throughout a contentious city corridor early that month, telling them that the paper had misplaced $100 million in 2022 and $77 million in 2023. He instructed writers that they wanted to vary how they did their jobs, as folks weren’t studying their work.

Final 12 months, the paper was on monitor to chop that annual loss to $50 million. That determine shot again as much as $100 million after the mass subscriber cancellations final fall.

Stars hit the exits as newsroom leaders squirm 

Govt Editor Matt Murray and Editorial Web page Editor David Shipley repeatedly discover themselves in troublesome positions.

Shipley knowledgeable Telnaes that her depiction of Bezos and different media and tech billionaires displaying fealty to Trump would not run. Telnaes, who give up, tells NPR she all the time accepts modifying however had by no means beforehand been instructed she could not deal with a selected matter. In a be aware to colleagues, Shipley mentioned the sketch overlapped an excessive amount of with two opinion columns addressing the identical topic.

In accordance with 4 folks with information, Murray has set a coverage that the paper should not report tales about itself, together with controversies and departures, although it has beforehand achieved so totally. (They spoke on situation of anonymity due to concern of repercussions.)

“They’re compromised,” former Publish columnist Jennifer Rubin, who resigned this week after greater than 14 years, tells NPR about newsroom leaders. “Journalism will not be about balancing the monetary pursuits of your proprietor in opposition to your journalistic obligations.”

Shipley declined remark. Murray has not responded to prior requests for remark. Rubin left to create a brand new website, known as The Contrarian, to supply accountability journalism on the upcoming Trump administration.

Murray, who led the Journal newsroom underneath Lewis, was delivered to Washington by Lewis final 12 months. Murray instructed staffers he’ll proceed to run the Publish‘s information aspect however that has not but been introduced publicly.

Regardless of all of the clashes and turmoil, the paper has continued to win kudos for its work. It has taken initiatives to combine cutting-edge synthetic intelligence instruments into its journalism and its expertise for readers. New leaders have been named for an innovation hub rechristened as WP Ventures. The paper has made a few of its personal spectacular hires, together with reporters from the Journal and Politico. And Murray has added a brand new senior requirements editor place, hiring a former prime Journal editor. 

But the paper lately reduce one other 4% of its employees, all on the enterprise aspect. That included 73 positions in promoting, according to the New York Times. Staffers ask how improvements propelling new revenues are to achieve traction with out extra funding.

Chief Technique Officer Suzi Watford, a former SiriusXM government who additionally beforehand labored for Lewis on the Journal, has been collaborating with senior leaders for months to refine the Publish‘s mission for the present age.

She is claimed to be constructing on the seven core principles set out by Eugene Meyer, the paper’s owner in 1935.

Amongst Meyer’s core rules: “The newspaper’s obligation is to its readers and to the general public at massive, and to not the personal pursuits of its house owners.”