One debacle after another has engulfed The Washington Post since veteran newspaper executive Will Lewis became CEO and publisher a year ago this month, with the charge from owner Jeff Bezos to make the storied newspaper financially sustainable.
The appointment of a new executive editor was botched. A killed presidential endorsement led hundreds of thousands of subscribers to cancel. Top reporters and editors left. Scandals involving Lewis' actions as a news executive years ago in the U.K. reemerged. A clear vision to secure the Post's financial future remains elusive.
Frustration boiled over on Tuesday night. More than 400 Post journalists, including some editors, signed a petition asking Bezos to intervene.
"We are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave," it reads, in part.
The petition never cites Lewis by name, but it reads as a sharp indictment of his leadership. Through a spokesperson, Lewis and the Post declined comment for this story. A representative of Bezos did not return a request for comment.
For this story, NPR interviewed 10 Washington Post staffers inside the newsroom and on the business side of the paper, including some who did not sign the petition. They agreed to speak to NPR under condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions inside the paper.
They say the backlash against Lewis encompasses Bezos to some degree, as he has publicly warmed up to President-elect Donald Trump. (The Post declined comment.)
Bezos' decision to kill a planned endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris just days before the November election led more than 300,000 subscribers to cancel, wiping out much more modest gains The Post had achieved under Lewis. (A spokesperson says The Post has convinced about 20% of those cancelling over the endorsement to remain subscribers.)
The decision also led to some resignations. Recent days at the Post have witnessed the continuation of a months-long parade of departures of highly regarded newsroom veterans — most recently, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Rosalind Helderman, investigative reporter Josh Dawsey and columnist Jennifer Rubin. Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes quit after her sketch showing Bezos kneeling before Trump with a bag of money was rejected.
The tech titan's business interests, including Amazon Web Services and the space company Blue Origin, receive billions of dollars from federal contracts. He's given $1 million toward Trump's inauguration costs and traveled to Mar-a-Lago with his fiancée to meet with the president-elect. Amazon Studios agreed to pay Melania Trump millions of dollars for a documentary project about her, according to Puck News. Come Monday, Bezos is expected to join Trump advisor Elon Musk and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg on the inauguration platform itself.
After blocking publication of the Post's endorsement of Harris, Bezos admitted that he, with his many enterprises, was a "complexifier" for the paper. But he said those interests had nothing to do with his decision, instead pointing to plummeting public trust in the media.
"We must work harder to control what we can control to increase our credibility," Bezos wrote in an opinion piece for the Post. "By itself, declining to endorse presidential candidates is not enough to move us very far up the trust scale, but it's a meaningful step in the right direction."
The Post's reporting, from the Pentagon Papers to Watergate to January 6, places it among the pantheon of vital American journalistic institutions. But it is a diminished outlet on the eve of Trump's second inauguration.
Bezos was seen as the paper's savior when he bought it in 2013 and as a champion of journalism during the first Trump term. Many people at the Post retain hope that Bezos will help the paper return to form. The petition states that the question of the presidential endorsement is "the owner's prerogative."
Yet it asks for Bezos's renewed focus on the paper.
"We understand the need for change and we are eager to deliver the news in innovative ways," the letter states. "But we need a clear vision we can believe in."
Lewis' conservative credentials appeal to Bezos
Lewis' record at the Wall Street Journal — he had been its publisher and chief executive — appealed to Bezos. The Journal's digital subscriptions soared during his tenure, enabling it to find firm footing.
Challenges at the Post, in contrast, were mounting. In late 2023, on the eve of Lewis' arrival, the Post bought out 10 percent of its workforce.
Furthermore, as Trump's return to Washington appeared more likely, Lewis also appealed to Bezos because of his ease in handling conservative figures. This account is derived from two people with direct knowledge of Bezos' thinking who spoke on the condition that they were not named, as they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Lewis had been editor of the conservative Telegraph newspaper in London, closely aligned with the Tory party. The Journal is controlled by Rupert Murdoch, for whom Lewis also worked in the U.K. And during a break between media jobs, Lewis had consulted for then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
At the Post, Lewis initially enjoyed a warm welcome. He charmed his new colleagues and promised to turn things around. That appeal soured over revelations he had repeatedly pressured then-Executive Editor Sally Buzbee not to cover damning allegations about his work for Murdoch in London more than a decade ago. Lewis had previously pressured NPR not to report its story that had initially drawn Buzbee's attention.
Lewis has rejected the allegations. He also has denied inappropriately pressuring Buzbee and called me "an activist, not a journalist."
Buzbee left last spring; Lewis's choice for executive editor, a former colleague, ran aground in June on tough scrutiny of ethical questions surrounding the journalism they did together in the U.K.
Reporters say Lewis snapped at them during a contentious town hall early that month, telling them that the paper had lost $100 million in 2022 and $77 million in 2023. He told writers that they needed to change how they did their jobs, as people weren't reading their work.
Last year, the paper was on track to cut that annual loss to $50 million. That figure shot back up to $100 million after the mass subscriber cancellations last fall.
Stars hit the exits as newsroom leaders squirm
Executive Editor Matt Murray and Editorial Page Editor David Shipley repeatedly find themselves in difficult positions.
Shipley informed Telnaes that her depiction of Bezos and other media and tech billionaires showing fealty to Trump wouldn't run. Telnaes, who quit, tells NPR she always accepts editing but had never previously been told she couldn't address a specific topic. In a note to colleagues, Shipley said the sketch overlapped too much with two opinion columns addressing the same subject.
According to four people with knowledge, Murray has set a policy that the paper shouldn't report stories about itself, including controversies and departures, though it has previously done so thoroughly. (They spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of repercussions.)
"They are compromised," former Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, who resigned this week after more than 14 years, tells NPR about newsroom leaders. "Journalism is not about balancing the financial interests of your owner against your journalistic obligations."
Shipley declined comment. Murray has not responded to prior requests for comment. Rubin left to create a new site, called The Contrarian, to provide accountability journalism on the upcoming Trump administration.
Murray, who led the Journal newsroom under Lewis, was brought to Washington by Lewis last year. Murray told staffers he'll continue to run the Post's news side but that has not yet been announced publicly.
Despite all the clashes and turmoil, the paper has continued to win kudos for its work. It has taken initiatives to integrate cutting-edge artificial intelligence tools into its journalism and its experience for readers. New leaders have been named for an innovation hub rechristened as WP Ventures. The paper has made some of its own impressive hires, including reporters from the Journal and Politico. And Murray has added a new senior standards editor position, hiring a former top Journal editor.
Yet the paper recently cut another 4% of its staff, all on the business side. That included 73 positions in advertising, according to the New York Times. Staffers ask how innovations propelling new revenues are to gain traction without additional investment.
Chief Strategy Officer Suzi Watford, a former SiriusXM executive who also previously worked for Lewis at the Journal, has been collaborating with senior leaders for months to refine the Post's mission for the current age.
She is said to be building on the seven core principles set out by Eugene Meyer, the paper's owner in 1935.
Among Meyer's core principles: "The newspaper's duty is to its readers and to the public at large, and not to the private interests of its owners."
Copyright 2025 NPR
