Here's a hint: Restructuring isn't going to do a damn thing to help, as long as you remain a propaganda arm of the rats and don't report the news objectively.

WaPo boss sounds alarm over dwindling audience in heated staff meeting: 'People are not reading your stuff'
'Let’s not sugarcoat it... We are losing large amounts of money,' Washington Post publisher William Lewis said

By Joseph A. Wulfsohn | Fox News
Published June 3, 2024 8:57pm EDT

Washington Post publisher and CEO William Lewis had a blunt message for his staff during a tense meeting following the sudden ouster of executive editor Sally Buzbee, according to the paper's own reporting.

Lewis informed his staff Sunday night that Buzbee, who joined the Post in 2021, was parting ways with the paper "effective immediately." He announced her temporary replacement would be former Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Matt Murray, who is expected to hold the position through the 2024 election cycle, and that the paper was being restructured into "three newsrooms," in hopes of turning things around for the beleaguered "Democracy Dies in Darkness" publication.

The Washington Post reported Monday that "Buzbee was uncomfortable with the structure and did not believe she could be effective in the role" offered to her in a new division of the company. She also reportedly had urged Lewis to hold off on implementing such changes until after the election, which Lewis refused.

The dramatic changes "left the newsroom reeling," according to the Post.

Lewis, the British media executive who joined the Post earlier this year, addressed the restructuring in a tense newsroom meeting Monday, where he offered a grim assessment of the current state of the paper in what was described as a "heated exchange" with a staffer.

"Lewis warned that the newsroom cannot afford to be resistant to change, saying that ‘decisive, urgent’ actions are needed for the company to survive upheaval within the media industry and a recent loss of subscribers and revenue," the Post reported.

"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."

Another staffer accused Lewis of choosing two of his "buddies" to run the Post, referring to Murray, who worked alongside Lewis at the Journal, and Robert Winnett, a former colleague from Lewis' stint at The Daily Telegraph.

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

As Lewis alluded to, The Washington Post has had a rough few years, especially financially. The Jeff Bezos-owned paper lost more than $70 million in 2023 and lost 50% of its audience in the same period, according to The New York Times.

In the final quarter of 2023, the Post implemented staff buyouts in order to prevent mass layoffs. Among those who took the buyouts were media reporter Paul Farhi, columnist Greg Sargent and senior editor Marc Fisher, who recently returned as an associate editor and columnist.

Last year, Fox News Digital spoke with several current and former Post staffers who put a spotlight on the sour mood that has plagued the newsroom, many of them suggesting it began when Buzbee took over as the top editor.

Lewis' restructuring plan will involve dividing the paper's staff into three newsroom; the "core," which is essentially its reporting team, opinion, and "service/social," meant to focus on audience building.

"By creating three, strong, journalism functions – Core, Service/Social and Opinions – we are taking a definitive step away from the 'one size fits all' approach and moving towards meeting our audiences where they are," Lewis said in a statement Sunday.

"People are not reading your stuff"

[Google translate]

"People are tired of our shit"

[/Google translate]

Want to know what the real problem is? The staffer that said: "And we now have four White men running three newsrooms." There you have it, diversity is more important than actually knowing what you are doing.

Bezos should have just gutted out the whole place and started over.

quote:

Originally posted by Bassamatic:
Want to know what the real problem is? The staffer that said: "And we now have four White men running three newsrooms." There you have it, diversity is more important than actually knowing what you are doing.

Yes, the obvious "real problem" is that they don't have "enough" DEI!

quote:

Bezos should have just gutted out the whole place and started over.

Bezos is the root cause of the dysfunction, not the cure.

I gave up my WP subscription 20 years ago. At the time they were inept and leftist (but I repeat myself!), but far from where they are now. Once in a while I am exposed to their toxic spew, and it is just ridiculous to assert that they are anything other than yellow journalists with an anti-American agenda and no morals at all.

We used to get the Sunday paper only, many, many moons ago. I do read articles on WaPo but refuse to subscribe even with their recent $0.99/mo intro special.

I'll support them again when they're back in the "moderate" band of coverage (I'm ok if they lean left in that middle zone...I can filter bias as needed).

A older friend (conservative Democrat in his youth - now “independent.”) was in journalism as a young man.

He said that every paper he worked at, in his youth, kept either a literal or figurative, wall between “news” and the opinion/marketing side. (At the papers he worked at, the opinion folks usually worked with the sales ones)

Now, papers have never been unbiased, but they didn’t used to be staffed with wimps.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:

[Bezos is the root cause of the dysfunction, not the cure.
.

You are correct of course. I was assuming Bezos actually wanted to have a successful business.

Probably not.

AMF!

WaPo readership which is probably full of retarded boomers is dying off. Those worthless shits may still vote dem after their passing but they are not reading WaPo.

"And we now have four White men running three newsrooms."

Well....we can't have that now can we?