Amid concerns about the paper's future, hundreds of Washington Post employees sent a letter to Jeff Bezos on Tuesday night asking for a meeting with the Amazon founder.
The letter, signed by more than 400 employees, including many prominent reporters and editors, did not criticize anyone by name. But the paper said the signatories have broad concerns about the Post's leadership.
“We are deeply concerned by recent leadership decisions that break with our tradition of transparency and cause readers to question the integrity of this institution, prompting the departure of some of our most prominent colleagues and encouraging further departures. is imminent,” the letter states.
A Washington Post spokeswoman declined to comment. A spokesperson for Bezos, the Post's owner, did not respond to a request for comment.
The letter, first reported by NPR, said the concerns were unrelated to Bezos' recent decision to end support for presidential candidates, which the signatories recognized as an “owner's prerogative.” He said there was.
Rather, the concern is “to maintain competitiveness, restore lost trust, and re-establish a relationship with leadership based on open communication,” the letter said.
The company's chief executive, Will Lewis, has been the focus of widespread dissatisfaction within the Post for months. The newsroom's top editor, Sally Buzbee, resigned in June after deciding to reorganize the newsroom. The choice of Robert Winnett to replace Lewis was withdrawn from consideration after staff opposition. After the decision to end support for the president, several Post opinion staff members resigned from the editorial board, and the Post's Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist also said that Bezos was whispering to a statue of President-elect Donald J. Trump. He resigned after a caricature depicting him was murdered. The Post's subscriber numbers have also fallen significantly.
In the past few weeks, several reporters have left or are leaving publications such as The Atlantic and The Wall Street Journal, including political reporters Ashley Parker, Josh Dorsey, and Michael Scherer. It's planned.
The letter concludes by asking Bezos to visit the Post's offices and meet with the Post's staff. He conducted a similar interview in 2023 amid widespread dissatisfaction with former Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan. Mr. Ryan resigned later that year.
