'I can't sugarcoat it anymore': Mainstream media giant panicking in financial freefall
Legacy media publications across America like the Washington Post have been in a relative freefall for some time already, partly because of the explosion of internet news.
But there have been other factors involved, too: The abrupt drift away from neutrality where some so-called experts are now demanding story writers advocate for the politically correct, those who say there's no need for "another side" information.
And then there's the social agendas that have been slammed into newsrooms without regard to their impact on the reporting.
There appears to be a bit of many factors at work now at the Post, the latest outlet to confirm huge problems.
A report at the New York Post pointed out there was an all-hands meeting at the Post, with its CEO Will Lewis, after the sudden departure of executive editor Sally Buzbee.
And it was a "clash," the report said.
It pointed out that under Buzbee, the publication last year lost $70 million and it has had audience declines of 50% since 2020.
Lewis had announced a new scheme to divide the newsroom into three sections, and Buzbee said that didn't work for her.
The company announced the new interim executive editor will be Matt Murray, who previously worked at The Wall Street Journal, but Robert Winnett, another veteran of the U.K.'s Telegraph Media, will take over after the election this fall.
Reports confirmed that at the meeting the company's dedication to "diversity" was challenged, with one critic stating, "Now we have four white men running three newsrooms."
The managers repeatedly were challenged to open "opportunities" for those candidates other than white men.
Lewis noted that the climate for the publication is very bad.
"We are losing large amounts of money. Your audience has halved in recent years. People are not reading your stuff. I can't sugarcoat it anymore," he charged.
Lewis noted that now he's "setting up a structure where I’m not going to be guessing."
The report said, "According to The New York Times, Buzbee told colleagues on a Sunday night call that Lewis was pushing for aggressive changes at the paper, and she 'would have preferred to stay to help us get through this period, but it just got to the point where it wasn’t possible.'"
The New York Post reported, "Privately, staff questioned exactly how Winnett will be obtain a U.S. visa for his new role. American employers generally have to show they cannot find an American qualified for the role before offering a job to a foreign national, although there are other ways for Winnett to obtain permission to work for the Post."
The New York Times reported star political reporter Ashley Parker pointedly questioned Lewis during the meeting on his hiring practices and the lip service he had paid to raising diversity in the newsroom, which is to be divided into opinion, news and "service and social media diversity."
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