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‘Deeply alarmed’: 400 Washington Post journalists demand Jeff Bezos’ intervention – What went wrong?
A mass exodus at the Washington Post has prompted 400 journalists to request Jeff Bezos's intervention, citing lost trust due to recent leadership decisions and a significant drop in subscribers, following layoffs and financial struggles.
Washington Post has reportedly seen a mass exodus of talent, following which at least 400 journalists have written to the Post's owner Jeff Bezos seeking an intervention, and expressing concern over the future of the esteemed newspaper. The plea from staff comes a week after the The Post laid off roughly 100 employees, amid financial struggles. The layoffs amounted to roughly 4% of the publication’s staff.
According to a report by CNN, the list of 400 journalists include some well known correspondents like the publication’s chief correspondent Dan Balz. They have requested Jeff Bezos to visit the Washington, DC, newsroom and speak to the The Post's leaders.
Washington Post Leadership Change Hampers Journalistic Interests?
The letter, obtained by CNN, read “we are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave, with more departures imminent.”
The Washington Post journalists have said in their letter to Jeff Bezos ‘trust has been lost’ and has sought in-person meeting with billionaire owner over paper’s future. “This is about retaining our competitive edge, restoring trust that has been lost, and re-establishing a relationship with leadership based on open communication,” it continues.
While the letter to Jeff Bezos doesn’t mention The Post publisher and CEO William Lewis by name, it strongly suggested the staff had lost faith in the newspaper’s leadership.
According to CNN, over the past year, William Lewis has made disruptive changes to The Post and been accused of harboring hostility toward the newsroom.
Lewis has also reportedly continued to face questions about his journalistic integrity relating to his past work as a senior executive at Rupert Murdoch’s British newspapers.
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire Amazon founder, hired William Lewis little more than a year ago, charging him with turning around the money-losing publication.
CNN notes, Jeff Bezos has been a mostly hands-off owner of The Post, and in some ways that has been a blessing, giving the newspaper’s journalists autonomy to write critically about Bezos, Amazon and related topics.
Decision to End Endorsement of US presidential Candidates Under Scanner?
The letter acknowledges that Jeff Bezos’s decision to block The Post editorial board’s planned endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris was “the owner’s prerogative.” The non-endorsement caused hundreds of thousands of Post subscribers to cancel as a form of protest.
The Post lost 250,000 subscribers, or 10% of its subscription base, following its decision not to endorse. This reportedly was a massive contributor to the paper losing a whopping $100m in 2024, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Digital visitors for the Washington Post website are also down, dropping from 114 million in November 2020 to 54 million in November 2024, according to Guardian report.
What did Jeff Bezos Say?
Jeff Bezos did not immediately comment on the letter that he received.
However, last month, in rare public comments about the Post, Bezos said at The New York Times DealBook Summit that the The Post “needs to be put back on a good footing again.”
Jeff Bezos didn’t specify how he’ll do that but said, “I have a bunch of ideas and I’m working on that right now.”
“We’ve saved the Washington Post once,” Bezos added, and “this will be the second time.”
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First Published:16 Jan 2025, 05:14 PM IST
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