


Washington Post publisher Will Lewis told the "newspaper's" staffers that the operation was losing huge amounts of money, and losing readership as well.
Jeff Bezos has previously claimed he didn't care how much money the Post lost -- he was just all about Quality Journalism. I guess he said that as a virtue signal, but didn't expect to lose $70 million in one year and tens of millions of dollars every year.
I would also imagine that these deep-pocketed Billionaire Hobbyist Media Magnates don't mind losing hundreds of millions of dollars if it buys them prestige and influence.
But the Post is losing prestige and influence. It's losing readers, no one takes it seriously. It's a a woke Joke.
The publisher promised that he would make changes to make the paper profitable. The "journalists" at the Post don't like that. They're like the former employees of the OFC coffee shops (which I'll discuss in the next post) -- they don't care if the owners of the business lose money, they just want their paychecks guaranteed forever, because they're Social Justice Warriors proving a greater service to humanity by simply existing and consuming.
The publisher also talked about quarantining the "service and social" reporters -- the woke activists posing as "reporters" -- into their own little ghetto.
Those activists almost certainly took that as an indication that they would see a lot of pinkslips coming their way, because that's exactly what will happen. You don't quarantine a healthy, productive section of your company. You quarantine the basket-cases.
The Post's staffers shrieked and screamed that Sally Buzbee, the former editor in chief, was to be replaced by -- gasp! -- a white man. And he's bringing in three other white men (spit!) to help him manage the unprofitable joke newspaper.
The activists repeatedly demanded that the publisher seek out "diverse" candidates for these positions.
I mention this background because it's critical to understanding why the Post is running a hit piece on their own editor-in-chief: Because they intended to drive him out, to embarrass Jeff Bezos into firing him.
Welcome to the Washington Post #Resistance -- similar in spirit and politics to the #Resistance in the federal government to Trump.
And similarly determined to drive the man selected to lead them out of his office.
John Sexton:
Robert Winnett, the incoming editor, got a blast of American journalism late Sunday night in the form of a lengthy investigative report critical of his previous work. That story was published by the Washington Post. The Post even tagged itself in the headline.
[From the Post:]
The backyard goodbye party for Sally Buzbee, the recently departed executive editor of The Washington Post, was beginning to break up on Sunday evening when the newspaper published a critical investigation into her permanent successor.
The headline: "Incoming Post editor tied to self-described 'thief' who claimed role in his reporting."
The article focused on Robert Winnett, the British journalist poised to take over The Post's newsroom in November, and revealed his links to a private eye who used unethical media practices to land big exclusives. It noted that Mr. Winnett had declined to comment to The Post's reporters -- the same ones he will be managing in a few months.
I'll sum up the details of the hit piece, because the details aren't important: Winnett, while working in the UK, used stories by a shady reporter who used deceit, and maybe even phone hacking (if you remember that scandal) to get stories. The hit-piece is wondering whether Winnett did enough to instruct his reporters on journalistic ethics -- and you know, Washington Post "journalists" are all about journalistic ethics -- and whether he maybe he encouraged the bad behavior.
Like I said, the details are not important. What is important is that these charges date from 15 years ago and no one has had much interest in "resurfacing" them -- until now.
It's not like Winnett hasn't been working in journalism all this time. He didn't retire from journalism and just jump back into it.
This story was old and dead.
But Washington Post reporters now "resurface" it to try to pressure Bezos into firing him.
To save their own phoney-baloney jobs, and preserve their right to continue treating journalism as just a shabby way to Conduct Politics by Other Means.
What is important is that this is open insubordination by The Washington Post staff, attempting to drive out the incoming editor-in-chief exactly as the DC Permanent Bureaucracy and Deep State attempted to drive Trump out of office.
I'm curious to see whether Bezos bends to this mob, and whether Winnett, once installed, takes action against the Insurrectionists.
So far, Bezos says he supports Winnett even in the face of what The Hill calls "backlash" by the staff.
Jeff Bezos is backing the new CEO of The Washington Post and the editor he chose to lead its newsroom amid widespread internal backlash among staff over the two hires.
Bezos, the billionaire tech mogul who has owned the Post since 2013, wrote to top editors on Tuesday expressing support for CEO Will Lewis and his strategy for leading the company into the coming election.
"I know you've already heard this from Will, but I wanted to also weigh in directly: the journalistic standards and ethics at The Post will not change," Bezos wrote in his note, which was obtained by The Hill. "To be sure, it can't be business as usual at The Post. The world is evolving rapidly and we do need to change as a business."
Lewis is facing widespread backlash following reports that he ousted former executive editor Sally Buzbee over a planned reorganization and criticism over scandals involving his actions at previous jobs that have been reported by his own newsroom.
We'll see if this weak, woke-adulation-seeking billionaire stands firm or capitulates to the woke mob. You know which way I'm betting.
The hit piece is being interpreted just how the Washington Post insurrectionists intended: They've got their leftwing allies threatening to cancel subscriptions if he's allowed to serve as EiC.