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Buh Bye, Washington Post [1]

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Date: 2024-06-07  

So the Washington Post, the Newspaper that broke the Watergate story and then bravely stood by its young reporters and their sources, has been hemorrhaging money and subscribers, and apparently to remedy that they have decided to make a sharp turn to the right.

So much for “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” Now it’s “Hello Darkness, My Old Friend” (with apologies to Simon and Garfunkel).

According to the AP on Monday June 3,

NEW YORK (AP) — The struggling Washington Post found itself in some turmoil on Monday following the abrupt departure of the newspaper’s executive editor and a hastily announced restructuring plan aimed at stopping an exodus of readers over the past few years. Post publisher Will Lewis and Matt Murray, a former Wall Street Journal editor named to temporarily replace Sally Buzbee, met with reporters and editors at the Post on Monday to explain changes that had been outlined in a Sunday night email. The plan includes splitting the newsroom into three separate divisions with managers who report to Lewis — one that encompasses the Post’s core news reporting, one with opinion pieces and the third devoted to attracting new consumers through innovative uses of social media, video, artificial intelligence and sales. Although Murray is temporarily replacing Buzbee through the November presidential election, the eventual plan places no one in the role of an executive editor who oversees the entire newsroom. Buzbee was said to disagree with the plan and chose to leave rather than be put in charge of one of the divisions, the Post reported.

And then today came the bombshell news that the new CEO Will Lewis tried to kill negative stories about himself, which Buzbee refused to do. Then, suddenly, Buzbee’s out. Coincidence? I’m guessing not so much.

The Washington Post has written twice this spring about allegations that have cropped up in British court proceedings involving its new publisher and CEO, Will Lewis. In both instances Lewis pushed his newsroom chief hard not to run the story. According to several people at the newspaper, then-Executive Editor Sally Buzbee emerged rattled from both discussions in March and in May. Lewis’ efforts were first reported by the New York Times. The second Post article in May, which was thorough and detailed, ran just days before Lewis announced his priorities for the paper, which is financially troubled.

Apparently Lewis also tried to pressure NPR reporter David Folkenflik to sit on a negative story in exchange for an exclusive interview. Folkenflik writes,

In December, I wrote the first comprehensive piece based on new documents cited in a London courtroom alleging that Lewis had helped cover up a scandal involving widespread criminal practices at media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloids. (Lewis has previously denied the allegations.) At that time, Lewis had just been named publisher and CEO by Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, but had not yet started. In several conversations, Lewis repeatedly — and heatedly —offered to give me an exclusive interview about the Post’s future, as long as I dropped the story about the allegations.

Although I left the DC area in the early 90s, I still kind of thought of it as my local paper, and maintained a digital subscription...until now. Sadly, given this news, I can’t justify it. So, just as I dropped my NYT subscription over their election coverage, I’ve sadly dropped the Washington Post for their corruption.

I understand how difficult it is to fund good journalism in the current environment. There are bills to pay. But it’s now clear to me that the journalism is going to suffer under this new CEO and Executive Editor. In the meantime I’m going to put the money I was spending toward my subscription toward electing deserving Democrats through Vote Save America/Act Blue.

I am not sure where I will get my news now, besides, of course, DailyKos (maybe NPR?) but we all have to do what we have to do to save our country from fascists.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/7/2245380/-Buh-Bye-Washington-Post?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

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