Greater than 400 Washington Submit journalists despatched an offended letter on Wednesday to proprietor Jeff Bezos, pleading with him to intervene on the paper’s route to revive the “belief that has been misplaced.”
The transfer comes because the Beltway broadsheet has seen a revolving door of distinguished journalists head for the exits after Bezos intervened to cease the outlet from endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris within the 2024 presidential election.
Bezos defended the choice in an op-ed for the paper, which noticed almost 300,000 readers cancel their subscriptions within the days after the endorsement was killed.
“You lately wrote that making certain the long-term success and editorial independence of this newspaper is important. We agree, and we consider you are taking as a lot satisfaction in The Washington Submit as we do,” the letter started.
“We’re deeply alarmed by current management selections which have led readers to query the integrity of this establishment, damaged with a convention of transparency, and prompted a few of our most distinguished colleagues to depart, with extra departures imminent.”
The letter, signed by lots of the paper’s remaining star journalists, went on to notice that the problems transcend the endorsement, which they acknowledged was the “proprietor’s prerogative.”
“That is about regaining our aggressive edge, restoring belief that has been misplaced, and reestablishing a relationship with management based mostly on open communication,” the letter mentioned.
Staffers have rebelled in opposition to the appointment of Will Lewis as CEO. The previous writer of the Wall Avenue Journal has tried to push the left-leaning publication extra to the center and has barred its journalists from reporting on the paper — particularly after Pulizer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Tenaes give up over an illustration that was scrapped.
She had lampooned Bezos and different tech titans for bending the knee to President-elect Donald Trump.
The letter “urged” the Amazon founder to return to the workplace and meet with Submit leaders as he has prior to now for a debrief about what has been occurring.
“We perceive the necessity for change and we’re wanting to ship the information in modern methods. However we’d like a transparent imaginative and prescient we will consider in,” they wrote, earlier than including that they’re nonetheless dedicated to journalism that holds energy to account and pursuing tales “with out worry or favor.”
The letter concluded: “As you wrote if you first grew to become The Submit’s proprietor in 2013, ‘The values of The Submit don’t want altering.’ We urge you to face with us in reaffirming these values.”
The Washington Submit declined to remark.
Reps for Bezos didn’t instantly return requests for remark.
Since Lewis took the helm final summer season, the exec pushed out Sally Buzbee, the paper’s first feminine editor and bluntly informed journalists in an inner assembly: “Individuals are not studying your stuff.”
On the time, Lewis informed staffers that the paper misplaced $77 million in 2023 and that its digital subscriber base fell off significantly since 2020.
In November, the positioning introduced in 54 million digital guests, lower than half the 114 million it reeled in on November 2020, based on Comscore information.
Earlier this month, the paper laid off roughly 100 staffers in its enterprise divisions.
In current weeks, political correspondents Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, in addition to White Home correspondent Tyler Pager and investigative reporter Josh Dawsey, decamped for different shops.
Three Opinions part members — David Hoffman, Molly Roberts and Robert Kagan — give up following the choice to not endorse any candidate for the primary time in many years.