Lots of of Washington Submit staffers despatched a letter to proprietor Jeff Bezos on Wednesday expressing grave concern at current management selections and the following exodus of high-profile colleagues, asking for a gathering with the billionaire so the newspaper may retain its “aggressive edge.”
“We’re deeply alarmed by current management selections which have led readers to query the integrity of this establishment, damaged with a convention of transparency, and prompted a few of our most distinguished colleagues to depart, with extra departures imminent,” the letter obtained by Fox Information Digital states.
Alluding to Bezos’ decision to quash the liberal editorial board’s deliberate endorsement final yr of Vice President Kamala Harris within the presidential election, the letter mentioned this went far past that exact resolution, which it known as Bezos’ “prerogative.”
“That is about retaining our aggressive edge, restoring belief that has been misplaced, and reestablishing a relationship with management based mostly on open communication,” the letter states, reportedly signed by greater than 400 staffers. “We urge you to come back to our workplace and meet with Submit leaders, as you could have up to now, about what has been occurring on the Submit. We perceive the necessity for change, and we’re desirous to ship the information in modern methods. However we want a transparent imaginative and prescient we are able to imagine in.”
Washington Submit proprietor Jeff Bezos. (The New York Instances DealBook Summit 2024 Reside/posted by Andrew Ross Sorkin)
ANTI-TRUMP COLUMNIST JENNIFER RUBIN QUITS WASHINGTON POST, BLASTS OWNER JEFF BEZOS
The staffers additionally pushed Bezos to recall his phrases when he bought the newspaper in 2013 and assist reaffirm the “values” of the paper. The Amazon chief, who is without doubt one of the richest males on this planet, had largely been hands-off on the subject of the paper’s editorial selections.
The letter seems to be the newest indication of an absence of religion by Submit staffers in writer Will Lewis, whom Bezos tapped to steer the paper a yr in the past. Bezos had already infuriated staffers in October together with his resolution to cancel the Harris endorsement on the eleventh hour of the election, which Lewis supported.
“It’s an implicit vote of no confidence in Will Lewis and a plea for Bezos’ direct engagement and involvement,” former Submit media author Paul Farhi informed Fox News Digital of the letter, which was first leaked out to NPR on Wednesday.
In current weeks, the Submit has seen the departures of such figures as reporters Josh Dawsey, Ashley Parker, Michael Scherer, Tyler Web page and Leigh Ann Caldwell, columnists Jennifer Rubin and Charles Lane, well being and science editor Stephen Smith and veteran editor Matea Gold.
Rabidly anti-Trump author Jennifer Rubin ripped into Washington Submit proprietor Jeff Bezos on her method out the door. (Screenshot/Washington Submit; SAUL LOEB/AFP through Getty Pictures)
In Rubin’s case, she particularly mentioned her resolution was about Bezos, decamping for a liberal start-up known as The Contrarian.
“Company and billionaire house owners of main media shops have betrayed their audiences’ loyalty and sabotaged journalism’s sacred mission – defending, defending and advancing democracy. The Washington Submit’s billionaire proprietor and enlisted administration are among the many offenders,” she wrote.
“They’ve undercut the values central to The Submit’s mission and that of all of journalism integrity, braveness, and independence. I can not justify remaining at The Submit,” she continued. “Jeff Bezos and his cronies accommodate and allow essentially the most acute risk to American democracy – Donald Trump – at a time when a vibrant free press is extra important than ever to our democracy’s survival and capability to thrive.”
WASHINGTON POST BEGINS LAYOFFS, CUTTING 4 PERCENT OF WORKFORCE
(L-R) Andrew Ross Sorkin and Jeff Bezos communicate onstage throughout The New York Instances Dealbook Summit 2024 at Jazz at Lincoln Heart on December 04, 2024, in New York Metropolis. ((Photograph by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Pictures for The New York Instances))
Editor-at-large Robert Kagan and a number of editorial board members additionally resigned final yr when Bezos spiked the Harris endorsement. The Submit misplaced a staggering 250,000 subscribers over the transfer, which was seen by workers as a capitulation by Bezos to Donald Trump earlier than the election and a betrayal of the paper’s values.
Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes additionally resigned from The Submit earlier this month after the outlet refused to publish her cartoon depicting Bezos groveling to Trump. Former government editor Sally Buzbee left the Submit final June after Lewis’ reshuffling of the newsroom.
The paper has additionally been hit by current headlines about huge declines in web traffic, a reported $77 million loss in 2024, and a spherical of layoffs earlier this month on its enterprise facet.
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“The corporate feels rudderless proper now,” one staffer informed Fox Information Digital earlier this month.
A spokesperson for the Submit did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
Fox Information Digital’s Gabriel Hays and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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