Washington Post Faces Internal Controversies Linked to CEO, Former Editor
Summary from the AllSides News Team
A series of recent controversies at The Washington Post (Lean Left bias) have reportedly harmed morale at the D.C.-based newspaper.
The Details: The Post’s executive editor, Sally Buzbee, abruptly resigned from her position on Sunday, June 2. By some accounts, however, Buzbee was forced out by the Post’s publisher and CEO, Will Lewis, following weeks of tension. On Wednesday, The New York Times (Lean Left bias) reported that Lewis advised Buzbee to not cover a story about his potential involvement in a U.K. phone hacking scandal. Then, on Thursday, an NPR (Lean Left bias) journalist wrote that Lewis had repeatedly offered him an exclusive interview if he agreed not to write about the phone hacking allegations. Lewis, who had planned a reorganization of the company, wrote to staffers that he “did not pressure” Buzbee “in any way.”
Key Quotes: On Monday, Lewis reportedly told Post staffers, “We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. Right. I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.”
How the Media Covered It: Fox News (Right bias) — tied to Rupert Murdoch, whose U.K. tabloid is implicated in the phone hacking scandal — highlighted Lewis’ quote about people “not reading” the Washington Post. Also, a columnist for the often-partisan New York Post Opinion (Right bias) blamed the Washington Post’s struggles on its purported “blatant political slant.” On the other hand, while a CNN Business (Lean Left bias) headline sensationally said “morale plummets” at the newspaper as “staffers express alarm,” The Washington Post reported that Lewis merely drew “more scrutiny.”
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Center
More chaos at The Washington Post as the publisher’s ethics are questioned![AllSides Media Bias Rating: Center AllSides Media Bias Rating: Center](https://www.allsides.com/sites/default/files/bias-center.png)
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Will Lewis, publisher of The Washington Post, is not having a good week.
And you can’t help but wonder what his long-term future is at a job he has held for only a few months.
Lewis was already in the middle of chaos when the week began. Post executive editor Sally Buzbee resigned abruptly over the weekend as Lewis announced a major shakeup in how the newsroom would operate going forward.
Post staff and media observers immediately noted that Lewis’ plan in the wake of Buzbee’s resignation severely lacked diversity,...
From the Left
Inside the culture clash upending the Washington Post![AllSides Media Bias Rating: Lean Left AllSides Media Bias Rating: Lean Left](https://www.allsides.com/sites/default/files/bias-leaning-left.png)
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In late April, Will Lewis arrived at the former Georgetown home of Katharine Graham.
Graham was the most revered publisher in the Washington Post’s history, who steered the newspaper through Watergate and the Pentagon Papers.
Lewis is the Post’s recently installed CEO and publisher, and a bit of a fish out of water — a British former Rupert Murdoch man running a newspaper built around values at odds with Fleet Street.
He came to the R Street mansion for Tammy Haddad’s annual pre-White House Correspondents’ Dinner brunch to network, of...
From the Right
Democracy dies in bias: Blame The Washington Post’s woes on its blatant political slant![AllSides Media Bias Rating: Right AllSides Media Bias Rating: Right](https://www.allsides.com/sites/default/files/bias-right.png)
![](https://www.allsides.com/sites/default/files/styles/feature_image_300x200/public/lewis-newly-appointed-publisher-ceo-71858105-e1717711580993.jpg?itok=nsCbM_q2)
“We are losing large amounts of money. People are not reading your stuff. I can’t sugarcoat it anymore.”
So said Will Lewis, the publisher of The Washington Post, in a widely reported exchange with angry staffers upset about major restructuring at the 147-year-old publication.
He’s 100% accurate. The Post is losing large amounts of money — to the tune of $77 million in 2023 alone.
And, yes, people are largely not reading its stuff anymore.
In fact, since Joe Biden took office in 2021, more than 500,000 Washington Post readers have canceled their subscriptions —...
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