I don't think this falls fully under opinion, given the sourcing, but as the writer is a Post emigre, it's not completely unbiased. Still, it's neither politics nor humanities and cultures, so absent a journalism community that nobody asked for, I'm placing this here.
I am, of course, myself, a biased opinion. I changed the front page in 2003 on a visit for the night, and my goal was to work there, having been told over drinks with the assistant manager for news, Ed, at a conference eight months prior that I was "Post material, but [I] need to get the immature shit out of my system first."
After we finished our beers, I piled into a car with Ed and the other two Post staffers in attendance to go from our hotel to dinner. A bottle of wine was ordered, we were free to get whatever we wanted, and everything went on the company credit card.
I was literally wined and dined by The Washington Post at 23. And got to hear them bitch about Bob Woodward being on too long of a leash by that time.
So yes, this is personal. But it appears I avoided an eventual death spiral by choosing alternative death spirals.
We’re witnessing a murder.
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of The Washington Post, and Will Lewis, the publisher he appointed at the end of 2023, are embarking on the latest step of their plan to kill everything that makes the paper special. The Post has survived for nearly 150 years, evolving from a hometown family newspaper into an indispensable national institution, and a pillar of the democratic system. But if Bezos and Lewis continue down their present path, it may not survive much longer.
Over recent years, they’ve repeatedly cut the newsroom—killing its Sunday magazine, reducing the staff by several hundred, nearly halving the Metro desk—without acknowledging the poor business decisions that led to this moment or providing a clear vision for the future. This morning, executive editor Matt Murray and HR chief Wayne Connell told the newsroom staff in an early-morning virtual meeting that it was closing the Sports department and Books section, ending its signature podcast, and dramatically gutting the International and Metro departments, in addition to staggering cuts across all teams. Post leadership—which did not even have the courage to address their staff in person—then left everyone to wait for an email letting them know whether or not they had a job. (Lewis, who has already earned a reputation for showing up late to work when he showed up at all, did not join the Zoom.)
The Post may yet rise, but this will be their enduring legacy.