What’s the purpose of proudly owning the Washington Publish if it’s not the Washington Publish? By that, I imply the long-lasting US newspaper whose storied popularity relies on holding highly effective folks and establishments accountable, all for the sake of democracy? The paper that broke the Watergate story, thus serving to to unseat a corrupt president, and that, following the New York Instances, riskily revealed the Pentagon Papers?
When Jeff Bezos purchased the Publish in 2013, it was struggling financially, and its future was unsure. The billionaire’s possession not solely restored the paper to profitability for a number of years, however allowed it to regain its prominence. Whereas setting an formidable tone for technical transformation, he correctly stored his fingers off the journalism, letting legendary editor Marty Baron do his job.
It labored. The Publish made cash, boosted digital subscriptions and nimbly took benefit of expertise. Quick Firm journal, twice over the previous decade, named the Publish essentially the most modern firm in media.
Extra importantly, the Publish workers did important journalism and hewed to requirements of integrity. Regardless of the complaining one hears about how nobody lined Donald Trump till it was too late, the Publish did, with two of its high reporters even producing a guide, Trump Revealed, nicely earlier than the 2016 election.
The Publish broke tales consistently, together with – famously – the one revealing Trump’s bragging about grabbing ladies. The newsroom received many awards, together with a Pulitzer prize for its protection of the January 6 assault on the US Capitol.
However now, all of that’s going through an existential risk. And Bezos could be very a lot accountable for how that can play out. He has a choice to make each bit as consequential as his unique buy (for the discount worth of $250m).
This time, he wants to save lots of the Publish from his personal mistake.
His appointment of the British media govt Will Lewis as writer and CEO of the Publish has changed into a debacle in current weeks, beginning with Lewis’s abrupt announcement that Publish editor Sally Buzbee (Baron’s successor, appointed in 2021) was out and that he was planning a radical reorganization of the Publish’s editorial operations. Lewis would herald two new high editors, each his longtime associates, and launch a “third newsroom” to do social media and repair journalism. (The supposed second newsroom – which, by definition, isn’t a newsroom – is the opinion part of the Publish.)
The workers was reeling from this when it then obtained worse. Tales within the New York Instances and NPR revealed that Lewis had tried to squelch press protection of his personal function within the aftermath of a phone-hacking media scandal within the UK, now making its manner by way of the British courts. His disparagement of NPR’s well-respected media reporter, David Folkenflik, was significantly appalling.
All of this taints Lewis badly. Loads of folks, together with many on the Publish’s gifted workers, assume Bezos ought to dump him now. In the meantime, Lewis’s very resistance to press scrutiny has motivated a number of information organizations to look extra deeply into his previous; it’s attainable that some new revelation will make his Publish management place much more untenable and can pressure Bezos’ hand.
However, for the time being, Bezos most likely has no Plan B. The Publish does must reinvent itself once more – it’s shedding tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} a 12 months, its subscriptions have dropped and its readership has plummeted. The Publish is way from alone in these challenges, nonetheless, and given Bezos’s wealth, the scenario doesn’t represent an emergency.
Wanting firing Lewis and beginning over with one other seek for a CEO – the cleanest, greatest transfer – what can Bezos do?
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A number of issues. He ought to instruct Lewis to publicly decide to giving the newsroom true editorial independence, pledging not solely to the workers however to the general public that there’s a clear line between the enterprise aspect and the journalists, and that he received’t breach it once more. He ought to reinstate the function of unbiased ombudsman or public editor – one which the Publish maintained for a few years however deserted in 2013 – to offer transparency and accountability to readers. (I’m not within the job, however I do perceive its worth; I used to be the New York Instances public editor earlier than becoming a member of the Publish because the media columnist.)
And, although he has not commented publicly, Bezos ought to achieve this now – making clear his private and unwavering assist for accountability-oriented journalism unbiased from the enterprise aspect of the corporate.
Over the previous decade, Bezos has been a great steward. He has championed the Publish’s work and its journalists, celebrated their successes, and been supportive in troubled occasions. He has been scrupulous (so far as I do know) in not interfering within the paper’s inevitable protection of himself – together with his private life – or of Amazon, the behemoth firm he based.
He ought to demand the identical of his new CEO, and of Lewis’s anointed editors, and demand on remedial measures, together with these outlined right here.
In any other case, the information group he owns will bear little resemblance to the one he was so proud to amass.
And, for a lot of causes, that may be a tragedy.
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