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Washington Post Executive Editor Steps Down

Image copyright: Kevin Mazur/Contributor/Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images

The Facts

  • The Washington Post announced Sunday that amid an organizational restructuring, it's replacing executive editor Sally Buzbee with Matt Murray, a one-time editor at The Wall Street Journal.

  • Buzbee, who was formerly with the Associated Press, took over at the Post in 2021 as their first female editor while the paper was struggling after the lucrative years of the Trump presidency. Publisher Will Lewis said in May that the Post lost $77M in 2023.


The Spin

Narrative A

What a shame that Lewis has decided to gut the Post and appoint his buddies and former coworkers to top jobs. Morale at the Post has bottomed out and Lewis is putting financial maneuvers ahead of insightful and hard-hitting journalism at a crucial time in the US and the world.

Narrative B

In the face of union squabbles, layoffs, internal discord, and an exodus of newsroom veterans, something has to be done to steady the ship. The harsh reality is that Lewis must take decisive action to save this historic paper from irrelevance and begin its turnaround.


Metaculus Prediction


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