In February, as morale in the Washington Post reached a new low, two of the newspaper's most respected alumni decided to intervene, according to some people with knowledge of the decision.
Leonard Downey, the paper's top editor, and Bob Kaiser, who spent more than half a century in the newspaper as editor, sent a brief message to post owner Jeff Bezos.
“Replacing him is an important first step in preserving the Washington Post,” the memo said.
People said Bezos had not responded to the message and there were no public signs of sunlight between him and Lewis. But this message is the most prominent sign of a break between Lewis and the generation who built the post into the horrifying power of American journalism.
When reaching for comments, Downey, who headed the Post's newsroom from 1991 to 2008, and Kaiser, who retired in 2014, admitted that he sent a message to Bezos but didn't provide any additional details, saying it was a private appeal.
A Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment. A spokesman for Bezos did not respond to requests for comment.
A few weeks before the memo was sent to Bezos, some of the Post's most well-known journalists announced they were leaving the newspaper for competitors such as the Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. In January, more than 400 journalists sent an open letter to Bezos urging him to meet with staff saying he was “deeply wary” by the recent decision in the newspaper. There were no meetings.
Lewis, who took over as CEO early last year, has received intense criticism from current and former mail employees for much of the year. Many of his moves were unpopular, including a reorganization that gave the post a way out of top editor Sally Buzby. The decision was made to appoint Robert Winnett, a British editor who later retreated as her successor. He then called David Folkenflik, the media reporter who covers the posts, a “activist.”
However, Bezos's post transformation under Lewis continues. A few days before the election, Lewis announced that newspapers were ending their tradition of supporting presidential candidates. Bezos later described it as a “principle decision.” Last month, Lewis explained to staff member Bezos' decision to reorient the Post's opinion page, which had been emphasizing pluralism for decades, to focus on “personal freedom and the free market.” David Shipley, the opinion editor of the post, resigned as a result of that shift.
Downey and Kaiser join the chorus of other former post-leaders and issue warnings about the status of the newspaper. Martin Baron, who helped revitalize the newspaper as an executive editor for eight years before retiring in 2021, said in an Atlantic article this month that Bezos “is not Cathering Laham” as a contrast to the longtime owner who saw the post through reports from Watergate and the Pentagon.
Famous Post Watergate reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein publicly criticised Bezos' move last year to block the president's support. However, Woodward, who has worked on the post for over 50 years, refuses to make any other comments on the current state of the publication.
“At some point, I'll write something about it,” he told the Times Reporter at an event celebrating Ms. Graham this month.
