new York
CNN
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A recent exodus of talent from the Washington Post prompted more than 400 of its employees to send an unusual letter to Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos expressing concern about the paper’s direction and asking him to intervene.
Employees, including some of the Post’s best-known correspondents, are asking Bezos — who rarely visits the Washington, D.C., newsroom — to come meet with Post executives.
The letter, obtained Wednesday by CNN, says “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 have prompted some of our colleagues most prominent to leave, with other departures imminent.
Although the letter to Bezos does not mention Post publisher and CEO William Lewis by name, it strongly suggests that staff had lost confidence in the paper’s leadership.
Over the past year, Lewis has made disruptive changes at the Post and has been accused of harboring hostility toward the newsroom. He also continued to face questions about his journalistic integrity due to his previous work as a senior executive at Rupert Murdoch’s British newspapers.
Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, hired Lewis just over a year ago, tasking him with turning around the loss-making publication. Bezos has been a mostly hands-off owner of The Post, and in some ways that has been a blessing, giving the paper’s journalists the autonomy to write critically about Bezos, Amazon and related topics.
But the owner’s absence has had a two-way effect, and many staff members have said they wish he would become more involved, particularly in the business side of the institution.
The letter to Bezos was intended to be a private plea for help, not a public venting session. But newsrooms are often places for gossip, and the letter was leaked Wednesday, first to NPR’s David Folkenflik.
Among the signatories are boldface names from The Washington Post, such as the publication’s chief correspondent, Dan Balz.
The letter acknowledges that Bezos’ decision to block the Post editorial board’s planned support for Vice President Kamala Harris was “the prerogative of the owner.” The non-approval caused hundreds of thousands of Post subscribers to cancel in protest.
“It is about maintaining our competitive advantage, restoring lost trust and reestablishing a relationship with leaders based on open communication,” the journalists said in the letter, arguing that “we need a clear vision in which we can believe.
A spokesperson for Bezos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last month, in rare public comments about the Post, Bezos said at the New York Times DealBook Summit that the Post “needs to be put back on good footing.”
He didn’t say how he would go about it, but said, “I have a bunch of ideas and I’m working on them right now.”
“We saved the Washington Post once,” Bezos added, and “this will be the second time.”