Jeff Bezos sends Washington Post staffers unwelcome message after they complain about their white male leaders
Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is not caving to the outrage mob within his own newsroom.
Earlier this month, Sally Buzbee abruptly resigned as executive editor of the Washington Post. In a staff meeting held after her departure, CEO and publisher Will Lewis told disgruntled staffers the newspaper needed to embrace a new vision and fresh direction.
'To be sure, it can't be business as usual at The Post. The world is evolving rapidly and we do need to change as a business.'
"We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. I can't sugarcoat it anymore," Lewis said. "So I've had to take decisive, urgent action to set us on a different path, sourcing talent that I have worked with that are the best of the best."
The changes sent shockwaves through the Post's newsroom. One of the chief complaints among staffers, according to Vanity Fair, is the diversity makeup of the newspaper's leadership.
One staffer even complained that now "four white men" would be running the Post.
In the weeks since, there has been news of "chaos" and "anger" in the Post's newsroom, reports that "morale has fallen off a cliff," questions of whether Lewis would remain at the helm, demands for Lewis' resignation, and multiple attempts to smear Lewis publicly — including by Post journalists. The Post's newsroom "is almost uniformly horrified" by the situation, one staffer said.
But all of the gnashing of teeth apparently won't force Lewis out of his job.
On Tuesday, Bezos — who purchased the Post more than a decade ago — emailed the Post's top leaders and told them the status quo is not working.
He reportedly carbon-copied Lewis on the email, signaling support for his CEO.
"I know you've already heard this from Will, but I wanted to also weigh in directly: the journalistic standards and ethics at The Post will not change," Bezos wrote. "To be sure, it can't be business as usual at The Post. The world is evolving rapidly and we do need to change as a business."
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There is an important reason Bezos reaffirmed the directional changes and his support for Lewis: The Post lost $77 million last year and, since 2020, half of its audience.
A successful businessman like Bezos knows those figures indicate something is critically wrong and dire change is needed.
But it's also why Bezos installed Lewis and continues to support him: Lewis led the Wall Street Journal through a period of significant revenue and readership growth from 2014 through 2020.
Results speak, the diversity-demands of rank-and-file staffers be damned.
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MacKenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos' ex-wife, pledged $640 million to over 360 mostly leftwing, identity-based nonprofits.
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