Washington Post publisher and CEO William Lewis had a blunt message for his staff during a tense meeting following the sudden ouster of executive editor Sally Buzbee, according to the paper’s own reporting.
Lewis informed his staff Sunday night that Buzbee, who joined the Post in 2021, was parting ways with the paper “effective immediately.” He announced her temporary replacement would be former Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Matt Murray, who is expected to hold the position through the 2024 election cycle, and that the paper was being restructured into “three newsrooms,” in hopes of turning things around for the beleaguered “Democracy Dies in Darkness” publication.
The Washington Post reported Monday that “Buzbee was uncomfortable with the structure and did not believe she could be effective in the role” offered to her in a new division of the company. She also reportedly had urged Lewis to hold off on implementing such changes until after the election, which Lewis refused.
The dramatic changes “left the newsroom reeling,” according to the Post.
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Lewis, the British media executive who joined the Post earlier this year, addressed the restructuring in a tense newsroom meeting Monday, where he offered a grim assessment of the current state of the paper in what was described as a “heated exchange” with a staffer.
“Lewis warned that the newsroom cannot afford to be resistant to change, saying that ‘decisive, urgent’ actions are needed for the company to survive upheaval within the media industry and a recent loss of subscribers and revenue,” the Post reported.
“We are going to turn this thing around, but let’s not sugarcoat it. It needs turning around,” Lewis said. “We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. Right. I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.”
Another staffer accused Lewis of choosing two of his “buddies” to run the Post, referring to Murray, who worked alongside Lewis at the Journal, and Robert Winnett, a former colleague from Lewis’ stint at The Daily Telegraph.
“The most cynical interpretation sort of feels like you chose two of your buddies to come in and help run The Post,” the staffer said. “And we now have four White men running three newsrooms.”
As Lewis alluded to, The Washington Post has had a rough few years, especially financially. The Jeff Bezos-owned paper lost more than $70 million in 2023 and lost 50% of its audience in the same period, according to The New York Times.
In the final quarter of 2023, the Post implemented staff buyouts in order to prevent mass layoffs. Among those who took the buyouts were media reporter Paul Farhi, columnist Greg Sargent and senior editor Marc Fisher, who recently returned as an associate editor and columnist.
Last year, Fox News Digital spoke with several current and former Post staffers who put a spotlight on the sour mood that has plagued the newsroom, many of them suggesting it began when Buzbee took over as the top editor.
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Lewis’ restructuring plan will involve dividing the paper’s staff into three newsroom; the “core,” which is essentially its reporting team, opinion, and “service/social,” meant to focus on audience building.
“By creating three, strong, journalism functions – Core, Service/Social and Opinions – we are taking a definitive step away from the ‘one size fits all’ approach and moving towards meeting our audiences where they are,” Lewis said in a statement Sunday.
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