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Washington Post Publisher Seeks to Crush Newsroom Dissent | Press Watch
Embattled Washington Post publisher Will Lewis’s my-way-or-the-highway memo to staff on Wednesday threatens to destroy what’s left of the newsroom’s talent pool – and reputation.
The memo urges “those who do not feel aligned with the company’s plan” to take an immediate buyout and leave. Those who remain, Lewis write, must “be united as a team with a strong belief and passion in where we are heading.”
It’s probably one of the worst memos every written by a publisher, for countless reasons – starting with the fact that Lewis notably does not have a plan and nobody knows where he’s heading.
The man has been a cipher, hiding from the newsroom, and the memo is characteristically full of buzzwords that signify nothing.
He writes of having made the Post “more appealing to, and trusted by, today’s audiences” – a ridiculous and unsubstantiated boast.
He writes of “launching new, engaging product improvements such as From the Source.” “From the Source” is a tiny pilot project that allows certain sources in news stories to add comments as annotations. It’s hardly a showpiece.
And he writes of “embracing AI rapidly across all of our workflows,” whatever the heck that means, and it can’t be good.
So in the absence of anything remotely like a recognizable journalistic strategy, what Lewis is basically asking for is a pledge of loyalty to him personally — a promise not to complain, no matter what he does next.
And that’s particularly inappropriate given the fact that he is, on a personal level, a morally bankrupt figure — having been hip-deep in the 2011 cover-up of Rupert Murdoch’s massive phone-hacking scandal. (Lewis, a Brit, cut his teeth working for the right-wing publishing magnate.)
After being hired as Post publisher in 2023 — to almost everyone’s astonishment – Lewis tried to cover up his role in the cover-up, pressuring former top editor Sally Buzbee not to run a story about his involvement then forcing her out after she defied him. Then he tried to bribe NPR reporter David Folkenflik into dropping his story about the allegation.
To say that Lewis has failed to win over the newsroom is an understatement. Back in March, two of the newspaper’s most respected alumni felt obliged to intervene on behalf of the staff, begging Post owner Jeff Bezos to fire Lewis. There was no response.
Another enormous problem with the memo is that trying to purge a newsroom of complainers is a great way to get rid of your best reporters and editors. Many – though not all – great journalists are notoriously cynical. They question everything. And they don’t check their brains at the door when it comes to their own institution.
Getting rid of people who question newsroom policy is a great way to both lose talented journalists and, in the absence of internal pushback, make really bad decisions.
And perhaps worst of all, those who stay will now be forever tarnished as enablers and sycophants.
Oh, wait, one more thing: The memo is smarmy as hell, full of insincerity like “If you choose to move away from The Post, thank you for all your contributions, and I truly wish you the best of luck.” It’s an insult to anyone receiving it.
All in all, it’s a recipe for disaster. And it comes after several other disasters that have led to numerous resignations and mass subscriber loss.
In October, hundreds of thousands of readers canceled their subscriptions after news broke that Bezos had ordered the editorial board not to endorse Kamala Harris for president, as they intended to do.
Then in February, Bezos announced a directive that the Post’s editorial pages would henceforth promote “personal liberties and free markets” and would refuse to publish pieces opposing those principles. Several top editorial-page editors and columnists fled soon after.
And over the last year, other publications – notably including the Atlantic, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and CNN – have picked off much of the newsroom’s marquee talent.
The New Yorker in May reasonably asked the question: “Is Jeff Bezos Selling Out the Washington Post?”
What’s left in the Washington Post is not nothing. Some reporters continue to do excellent work, despite the circumstances.
But I fear this memo will drive even more of the best people away, while demoralizing those who remain even further.
Simply put, the Washington Post, as I’ve written before, has no future as an independent news organization as long as Jeff Bezos owns it – and as long as Lewis remains publisher.
This new memo suggests that Lewis is confident in his position, and that’s maybe the worst part of it all.
Beirut, Lebanon – On Tuesday, representatives from Lebanon and Israel met at the US Department of State in Washington, DC – the first session of a two-day round of negotiations that Lebanese negotiators hope will end an invasion of their country.
The negotiations, which started at 9am local time (13:00 GMT), come as Israel’s invasion of Lebanon pushes deeper than at any point since the year 2000 and as Hezbollah and Israel continue to trade attacks. Israel has killed 3,468 people in Lebanon since March 2, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
With the war raging on, what do Lebanon and Israel have to discuss and will the talks lead to an end of the Israeli assault?
Here’s everything you need to know.
What will Israel and Lebanon discuss?
Similar to past meetings, the two sides are ostensibly looking to come to some kind of deal following fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, with strong doubts it will be achieved.
Lebanon’s government is still pushing for a total ceasefire. However, as talks started, Israel was striking various parts of southern Lebanon. Lebanon is also trying to get Israel to withdraw from Lebanese territory in the south, so that more than 1.2 million displaced people can return home, and so the state can resume finding a way to disarm Hezbollah and rebuild areas devastated by Israeli attacks.
Israel is meanwhile looking to get assurances that Lebanon will disarm Hezbollah, a prospect analysts say Israel knows is complicated by the continuation of its military operations and occupation of swaths of southern Lebanon. Instead, Israel appears to be trying to fuel sectarian tensions inside Lebanon, leading to chaos and internal strife.
What has happened so far?
An initial meeting took place in April between Israel and Lebanon’s ambassadors to the United States. A second round took place in May with a larger delegation on both sides.
On Friday, a meeting took place with Lebanese and Israeli military representatives, while Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese group, is not involved in the meetings.
Israel claimed the two sides found common ground in that they both wanted to see Hezbollah disarmed. Some Israeli officials suggested there may soon be trade agreements and an exchange of tourists between the two countries. Lebanon, however, said it preferred to find a deal closer to the 1949 armistice agreement between the two countries.
In the last meeting, Beirut reportedly outlined the damage done by Israeli attacks since the 2024 ceasefire agreement and presented detailed maps showing homes destroyed or razed by Israel.
Is there a chance for a ceasefire?
That remains to be seen, but for now, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country’s military would continue attacking Lebanon.
On Monday, Netanyahu announced that attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs would resume, despite a ceasefire. Apart from two targeted attacks, Israel has not struck the suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, since April.
Iran, which has attempted to include Lebanon in a wider ceasefire between themselves, on one side, and Israel and the US on the other, then intervened by threatening to attack northern Israel.
US President Donald Trump reportedly intervened to stop Israel’s attacks. He announced another ceasefire, after his previous announcement of one between Israel and Lebanon on April 16, after claiming he had gotten the approval of Netanyahu and spoken to Hezbollah.
“There will be no troops going to Beirut, and any troops that are on their way have already been turned back,” Trump announced on his social media platform, Truth Social.
But attacks from Israel and Hezbollah are continuing.
How do Lebanese people feel about the talks?
Not everyone is on the same page.
Some Lebanese support the talks and say they are the only option the state, which has little leverage, has. Among those who believe direct talks are the best way forward are Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.
“There is no option other than negotiation,” Aoun said in a statement on Tuesday.
Others, however, oppose direct talks. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and his allies, Hezbollah, have said indirect talks are preferred and that negotiations cannot be conducted while attacks are ongoing.
How are Iran and the US connected?
Israel and the US attacked Iran on February 28, killing the country’s longtime leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran is Hezbollah’s primary benefactor, and two days after Khamenei’s assassination, Hezbollah fired six rockets towards Israel on 2 March.
Hezbollah’s response brought a huge response from Israel, who have crossed the Litani River – the supposed buzzer zone in southern Lebanon it had created – towards the Zahrani River.
Despite a 2024 ceasefire, Israel had never stopped attacking Lebanon, while Hezbollah had only responded once in December 2024.
Iran has attempted to include Lebanon in the ceasefire deal it has with the United States and Israel, who say this theatre is not part of the agreement.
Although Trump has now announced a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel twice, the invasion of southern Lebanon continues.
Are there other actors involved?
Gulf states have also intervened. Saudi Arabia has been working behind the scenes to get Lebanon’s leadership – Aoun, Salam and Berri – on the same page. Meanwhile, analysts say Saudi Arabia and Qatar engaged the Trump administration to stop an escalation in Lebanon.
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A contract worker was killed by a falling tree on Monday afternoon in Washington County, officials said.
The Washington County Office of the Coroner said in a news release that the contractor was killed after the tree fell on them around 4 p.m. The worker, who was not immediately identified, was hired to cut down a tree at a residence on Lynn Portal Road in Canton Township, and it fell in an unintended direction, killing the person, the coroner said.
No other information was immediately released on Monday evening. The Greene-Washington Regional Police Department and the coroner are investigating.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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