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Over 400 Washington Post journalists have signed a blistering petition demanding owner Jeff Bezos visit the newspaper’s office to restore “trust that has been lost,” leading “readers to question the integrity of this institution.”
The letter, which was sent to the mega-billionaire on Wednesday and obtained by The Independent, comes as the venerable paper has suffered a mass exodus of reporters and readers following Bezos’s decision to scuttle the editorial board’s presidential endorsement of Kamala Harris.
Since the blocked endorsement, the Post has reportedly lost at least 250,000 subscribers. That controversy was soon followed by Bezos seemingly cozying up to President-elect Donald Trump, which included his company Amazon making a $1 million donation to Trump’s inauguration fund and licensing a documentary about Melania Trump for $40 million. Bezos, meanwhile, is scheduled to sit alongside Trump’s cabinet nominees at next week’s inauguration.
The spiked endorsement also led to several editorial board members resigning in protest. Amid several other controversies, including the paper refusing to publish a satirical cartoon showing Bezos on bended knee before Trump, a number of star reporters and editors have fled the storied media outlet. While top talent flees, the paper — which continues to lose money under embattled publisher Will Lewis — also recently laid off four percent of the staff, largely from the beleaguered paper’s business operations and public relations department.
“You recently wrote that ensuring the long-term success and editorial independence of this newspaper is essential,” the petition to Bezos reads. “We agree, and we believe you take as much pride in The Washington Post as we do.”
Noting that they are “deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution,” the staff added that the paper had “broken with a tradition of transparency” that resulted in many of “their most distinguished colleagues to leave” and more departures to come.
“This goes far beyond the issue of the presidential endorsement, which we recognize as the owner’s prerogative,” the letter continues. “This is about retaining our competitive edge, restoring trust that has been lost, and reestablishing a relationship with leadership based on open communication.”
The Post journalists wrote that the staff is desperate to hear what is happening with the paper and urged Bezos to “come to our office and meet with Post leaders.”
“We understand the need for change, and we are eager to deliver the news in innovative ways. But we need a clear vision we can believe in,” the petition notes. “We are committed to pursuing independent journalism that holds power to account and to reporting the news without fear or favor. That will never change. Nothing will shake our determination to follow the reporting wherever it leads.”
The staffers ended the letter by reiterating Bezos’s promise when he first purchased the paper in 2013: that the Post’s values did not need changing. “We urge you to stand with us in reaffirming those values,” they concluded.
Earlier this week, longtime columnist Jen Rubin announced she was leaving the paper to start her own publication on Substack. Rubin said the final straw was the Post spiking Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes’s cartoon, which also caused Telnaes to resign.
While the Post’s rivals poach the paper’s most prized reporters, Lewis has been unable to convince top editors to stay or come aboard to help reverse the “doom loop” that appears to be engulfing the paper. Managing editor Matea Gold, for instance, left last month for The New York Times and Lewis has been unsuccessful in hiring a new executive editor, leaving former Wall Street Journal editor Matt Murray with a seemingly permanent “interim” title.
Lewis’ hostility to the newsroom — as well as towards journalists who have covered his past behavior at British news outlets — has also sparked a crisis of confidence among the staff, who were already demoralized before these latest controversies. In fact, the letter itself could be seen as a rebuke of the publisher.
“While not citing CEO Will Lewis by name, it casts a harsh light on his leadership,” NPR media reporter David Folkenflik noted on Wednesday.
This post was originally published on here
