Washington Post newsroom in turmoil as insiders criticize leadership's 'poorly handled' transition

The Washington Post is still reeling from the drama that unfolded earlier this week as an overhaul in leadership and ambitious restructuring plan has riled the newsroom. 

William Lewis, the Post's CEO and publisher who took over this year, sent a memo to staff on Sunday announcing that executive editor Sally Buzbee would be stepping down "effective immediately," a shocking move in the midst of a busy election cycle. He also announced that the entire organization was being organized into what's been called "three newsrooms." Things escalated Monday following a meeting Lewis held with staff that had tense moments.

"The transition was poorly handled," one Washington Post insider told Fox News Digital. "And Will was defensive at the meeting and said things I hope he regrets now."

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Paul Farhi, a former Washington Post media reporter who took a buyout in December after 35 years with the paper, called the situation "head spinning" for staffers.

"It kind of came out of the blue, not that it was absolutely unexpected, but the timing in the middle of a presidential campaign did, I think, catch everyone off guard," Farhi told Fox News Digital. "I think they were planning to announce it, but it was starting to leak, so they rushed out this announcement."

Washington Post publisher and CEO William Lewis sparked backlash among staff for his blunt message about the paper's financial woes. (Elliott O'Donovan for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Lewis had multiple heated exchanges with staffers during the meeting. When asked whether the editors he had recruited were part of the same "culture" as the Post's, Lewis, a Brit who joined the paper in January, reportedly offered a blunt message. 

"We are going to turn this thing around, but let’s not sugarcoat it. It needs turning around," Lewis said. "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." The Jeff Bezos-owned paper lost roughly $77 million in 2023 and has shed 50% of its audience since 2020.

The Post insider rejected Lewis' "false" claim about people not reading the Post, telling Fox News Digital, "We have a huge audience," while acknowledging the decline in readership. 

"I thought that was a really intemperate comment by him," Farhi similarly said. "In other words, if you were so great at this journalism thing, everybody would be reading your stuff. Well, that, as we know as a fact is not true since everybody up and down the line is experiencing something like what The Washington Post is experiencing."

But other "Posties," as Post employees refer to themselves, praised Lewis for taking such questions from his staff, with another insider telling Fox News Digital, "We appreciate a leader standing up there and abandoning any sort of pablum and talking points and just, you know, giving it to us straight." 

Sally Buzbee's exit

Buzbee, who previously served as the executive editor of The Associated Press, was recruited by Lewis' predecessor Fred Ryan in 2021 to replace the Post's revered editor, Marty Baron. 

Her tenure as the Post's chief editor had been rocky throughout, with multiple personnel issues that spilled out publicly, in addition to the ongoing financial woes plaguing the paper. But Buzbee's sudden ousting now has staffers rallying in her defense.

"Sally didn’t have many fans but no one thought she was treated fairly," the first Post insider told Fox News Digital.

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Lewis announced that former Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Matt Murray will fill Buzbee's seat through the 2024 election cycle before transitioning to manage a new Post newsroom division focused on service and social media journalism. Robert Winnett, the deputy editor of The Telegraph Media Group, will then take over Murray's position and oversee the paper's key coverage areas. David Shipley will remain the editorial page editor as part of the three-part newsroom restructuring. 

Buzbee was offered one of the newly created positions, but she declined. 

"She was going to be demoted. No reason [for her] to stay," the insider said.

"No one expected Sally to be leaving anytime soon, and certainly not before the election," Farhi told Fox News Digital. "I mean, the Post has kind of a tradition that editors carry the Post through an election season, and then the transition is made when it's a little quieter, just because it's less disruptive, if anything."

Sally Buzbee left the Washington Post this week after three years as executive editor. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Washington Post video game reporter and critic Gene Park took to X to express his "eternal gratitude" to Buzbee and shared, "While I was sick, she made sure I was taken care of, that I stayed employed and paid, made accommodations while I recovered."

"She also read and enjoyed my work, went out of her way to compliment my stories and made sure I felt like an important member of a world-class newsroom," Park said. She received praise and defense from other staffers as well.

A recurring theme in Monday's meeting with staff was concern with the lack of diversity among the Post's leadership. 

Lewis and his three top deputies are all White men. Buzbee was the Post's first female executive editor, something that was commemorated with buttons that read "Edited by a woman" when she first joined the paper in 2021. A photo of that button was obtained by Fox News Digital.

"People proudly wore these buttons when Sally took charge," the first Post insider said. 

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Washington Post staffers "proudly wore" buttons that read "Edited by a woman" when Sally Buzbee was first hired as executive editor in 2021. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images, Fox News Digital)

Reporter Ashley Parker reportedly took Lewis to task in a testy exchange in Monday's newsroom meeting over his unfulfilled principle of diversity. 

"When you were here before, you talked very movingly about how you care about diversity — and people talk about diversity — but then when push comes to shove, they say, ‘Well, I looked around and I couldn’t find anyone,’" Parker told Lewis, according to the New York Times. 

"The most cynical interpretation sort of feels like you chose two of your buddies to come in and help run The Post. And we now have four White men running three newsrooms."

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Farhi sided with his former colleague, telling Fox News Digital, "The symbolism of the first female editor of the Washington Post going out and three White guys running the paper, it didn't sit very well with people. You saw some pushback on that. And, you know, it's all kind of upsetting."

Washington Post staffers are criticizing their boss William Lewis over his leadership overhaul.? ((Eric BARADAT / AFP))

‘Newsrooms aren’t dictatorships'

The drama that unfolded at the Post sparked an avalanche of criticism across the media landscape. 

Among the most prominent critics was Margaret Sullivan, the former Post left-wing media columnist who left the paper in 2022.

"Journalists don’t delude themselves that newsrooms are democracies; they know they don’t get a vote. But successful newsrooms aren’t dictatorships, either," Sullivan wrote Tuesday in The Guardian.

"If Lewis is going to be successful in his quest to make the Post soar again, he’ll need to have the journalists with him all the way. Right now, they’re not. And that means a course correction is in order," she continued.

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While the second Post insider expressed confidence that Lewis would help address the paper's failing business model, the lack of transparency towards how he chose his top deputies as part of the restructuring remains an issue among the rank and file. 

"I think there's a sense among many reporters that if you're going to hire a new editor, you need to open yourself to everyone out there who could possibly do the job," they said. "And I think people in the audience [Monday] were trying to find evidence that something close to that had happened. I can't say that they didn't cast a wide net because I really don't know. But I think that many people are thinking that if they had cast a wide net, they would say they had cast a wide net."

The insider added Buzbee's treatment and abrupt exit was "not a great moment for the Post."

The unionized staffers of the Post Guild lashed out at their employer, telling Fox News Digital, "We’re troubled by the sudden departure of our executive editor Sally Buzbee and the suggestion from our Publisher & CEO Will Lewis that the financial issues plaguing our company stem from the work of us as journalists instead of mismanagement from our leadership. We are also concerned about the lack of diversity at the top levels of the organization, especially as The Post seeks to reach new audiences while continuing to cover the most pressing issues in the nation and the world."

A spokesperson for The Washington Post declined to comment.