Washington Post employees invite owner Jeff Bezos to a meeting with a harsh letter: ‘We are deeply concerned’
Hundreds of Washington Post employees sent a letter to owner Jeff Bezos on Wednesday expressing serious concerns over recent management decisions and the ensuing exodus of senior colleagues, seeking a meeting with the billionaire so the paper can maintain its “competitive edge.”
“We are deeply troubled by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted the departure of some of our most respected colleagues, with more departures imminent,” the letter to Fox said. News of the Digital State.
Alluding to Bezos’ decision to reverse last year’s planned liberal editorial endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election, the letter says that goes far beyond that particular decision, which it calls Bezos’ “prerogative.”
“This is about maintaining our competitive advantage, restoring lost trust and re-establishing a relationship with management based on open communication,” said the letter, reportedly signed by more than 400 employees. “We invite you to come to our office and meet with Post leaders, as you have done in the past, about what is happening at the Post. We understand the need for change and are eager to deliver the news in innovative ways. But we need a clear vision into which we can believe.”
Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. (The New York Times DealBook Summit 2024 Live/Reporting by Andrew Ross Sorkin)
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The staff also pushed Bezos to recall his words when he bought the paper in 2013 and help reaffirm the paper’s “values.” The head of Amazon, who is one of the richest people in the world, has been largely impartial about the newspaper’s editorial decisions.
The letter appears to be the latest indication of Post staff’s lack of confidence in publisher Will Lewis, whom Bezos tapped to run the paper a year ago. Bezos had already enraged employees in October with his decision to reverse his 11th-hour endorsement of Harris, which Lewis supported.
“It’s an implicit vote of no confidence in Will Lewis and a plea for Bezos’ direct engagement and involvement,” said Paul Farhi, a former media writer for the Post. Fox News Digital letter, which was leaked first for NPR on Wednesday.
In recent weeks, the Post has seen the departures of such figures as reporters Josh Dawsey, Ashley Parker, Michael Scherer, Tyler Page and Leigh Ann Caldwell, columnists Jennifer Rubin and Charles Lane, health and science editor Stephen Smith and veteran editor Matea Gold.
Fiercely anti-Trump writer Jennifer Rubin attacked Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos on a date. (Screenshot/Washington Post; SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
In Rubin’s case, she specifically said her decision was about Bezos, who left for a liberal start-up called The Contrarian.
“Corporations and billionaire owners of major media houses have betrayed the loyalty of their audience and sabotaged the sacred mission of journalism – the defense, protection and advancement of democracy. The owner of the Washington Post, the billionaire and engaged management are among the offenders,” she wrote.
“They have undermined the values that are central to The Post’s mission and all of journalistic integrity, courage and independence. I cannot justify staying at the Post,” she continued. “Jeff Bezos and his cronies are accommodating and enabling the most acute threat to American democracy – Donald Trump – at a time when a vibrant free press is more essential than ever to the survival and ability of our democracy to thrive.”
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(LR) Andrew Ross Sorkin and Jeff Bezos speak on stage during The New York Times Dealbook Summit 2024 at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 4, 2024 in New York. ((Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for The New York Times))
Editor-in-chief Robert Kagan and several editorial board members also resigned last year when Bezos won Harris’ endorsement. Fast lost incredibly 250,000 subscribers for the move, which the staff saw as an ax-less capitulation to Donald Trump before the election and a betrayal of the paper’s values.
Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes also resigned from The Post earlier this month after the publication refused to publish her cartoon depicting Bezos groveling in front of Trump. Former executive editor Sally Buzbee left the Post last June after Lewis reshuffled the newsroom.
Newspapers were also hit by recent headlines about a big drop in web trafficwith a reported loss of $77 million in 2024 and a series of layoffs earlier this month on the business side.
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“The company feels rudderless right now,” one employee told Fox News Digital earlier this month.
A Post spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
