WaPo's AWOL Publisher Abruptly Resigns

 

Days after massive and potentially fatal layoffs at the Washington Post, its publisher Will Lewis resigned.  Hired by tech oligarch and Trump ass kisser Jeff Bezos two years ago, Lewis was tasked to produce changes to the Post's news coverage and editorial policy, as dictated by the shape-shifting owner Bezos.  From NPR:

"The Washington Post Publisher and Chief Executive Will Lewis announced Saturday evening he would depart after just two years at the paper, a tenure marked by controversy and crisis.

Lewis called his time 'two years of transformation' in his resignation note, but it was defined by turbulence rather than a clear path, and it ended with brutal job cuts. The paper's chief financial officer, Jeff D'Onofrio, will serve as acting CEO.

More than a third of the newsroom was laid off Wednesday after Lewis' promises of radical innovations failed to staunch several years of annual losses in the tens of millions of dollars. At one point, losses hit $100 million, Lewis told staffers in June 2024 during a rocky newsroom all-staff. The session occurred just five months into his time at the Post. Yet it proved to be his final all-staff meeting.

He was effectively AWOL as the paper's scope, ambitions and journalism were radically redefined and constricted. Lewis played no visible role in announcing the layoffs in a mandatory Zoom call for the newsroom on Wednesday. Nor did he publicly address the paper's readers to allay their concerns.

The coup de grâce came just a day later when Lewis was photographed in Northern California walking a red carpet at a Super Bowl event." (our emphasis)

Lewis met the definition of "calling it in" for his absentee management, not bothering to deal with the paper's staff.  Good riddance, but too late for the fired staff.

At this stage, the only way the Post might be salvaged, and even returned to its earlier glory, is to find a buyer(s) that are willing to create a charitable trust for the paper to operate under, much in the way of The Guardian UK is wholly owned by the Scott Trust Limited.  It's a highly unlikely scenario, but what a great clap back it would be for two billionaire philanthropists like Mackenzie Scott (Bezos' ex) and Melinda Gates (Bill Gates' ex) to buy the Post and establish a charitable trust in perpetuity.  Both are worth just shy of $30 billion. They could solicit more participants who support a free press and democratic values and save a major institution. 

BONUS: The Columbia Review of Journalism suggested last fall that Bezos donate the Post to a charitable trust for a tax write off, not that Bezos pays anything more than minimal taxes, Amazon even less.