With its top editor abruptly gone, The Washington Post grapples with a hastily announced restructure
One of the nation's top news organizations was in some turmoil following a hastily-announced restructuring plan that led to the exodus of the newspaper's executive editor
NEW YORK — The struggling Washington Post found itself in some turmoil on Monday following the abrupt departure of the newspaper's executive editor and a hastily announced restructuring plan aimed at stopping an exodus of readers over the past few years.
Post publisher Will Lewis and Matt Murray, a former Wall Street Journal editor named to temporarily replace Sally Buzbee, met with reporters and editors at the Post on Monday to explain changes that had been outlined in a Sunday night email.
The plan includes splitting the newsroom into three separate divisions with managers who report to Lewis — one that encompasses the Post's core news reporting, one with opinion pieces and the third devoted to attracting new consumers through innovative uses of social media, video, artificial intelligence and sales.
Although Murray is temporarily replacing Buzbee through the November presidential election, the eventual plan places no one in the role of an executive editor who oversees the entire newsroom. Buzbee was said to disagree with the plan and chose to leave rather than be put in charge of one of the divisions, the Post reported.
Lewis was not made available for an interview Monday, and Buzbee did not immediately return a message.
“It definitely kind of blindsided people,” said Paul Farhi, a recently retired media reporter at the Post. “But it shows you that Will Lewis is working out of a sense of crisis and urgency. He's only been there five months and he's making gigantic changes to the newsroom.”
Like most news organizations, the Post has lost readers — a
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