Bezos reassures Post editors in first outreach since Buzbee exit

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos sought to reassure its journalists Tuesday with his first direct outreach to The Post newsroom since the abrupt exit of its executive editor and a swirl of questions about the journalism standards of some newly appointed executives.

“You have my full commitment on maintaining the quality, ethics, and standards we all believe in,” he wrote to about a dozen senior editors in an email, which quickly leaked to reporters who shared it on social media.

The message represents the owner’s most public comment since William Lewis, the company’s publisher and CEO of five months, announced top editor Sally Buzbee’s departure and a dramatic newsroom reorganization two weeks ago.

Since then, multiple recent news accounts, including in The Post, have highlighted allegations that Lewis and Robert Winnett — a British editor who is being brought in to oversee the news division in November — engaged in journalistic practices that run counter to the standards of most American newsrooms.

Bezos wrote to editors that “we do need to change as a business.” But, he added, “as the newsroom leaders who’ve been shaping and guiding our coverage, you also know our standards at The Post have always been very high. That can’t change — and it won’t.”

The billionaire founder of Amazon bought The Post in 2013. He hired Lewis in November to oversee the business, which had been facing a $77 million shortfall and declining readership, according to company officials.

A rare presence in the newsroom, Bezos is typically in closer touch with its corporate leadership rather than its editorial ranks, which have been in turmoil since Buzbee’s unexpected departure, announced to staff in a Sunday night email June 2.

In his note Tuesday, he directly referenced Lewis, who told staff in small meetings last week that, as publisher, he will never interfere with the journalism produced by the newsroom.

“I know you’ve already heard this from Will,” Bezos wrote, “but I wanted to also weigh in directly: the journalistic standards and ethics at The Post will not change.”

Bezos could not be reached for additional comment.

According to people familiar with their interactions, Bezos had been closely engaged with Lewis as he developed a plan for a “third newsroom” — a division of the company that would be separate from traditional news and opinion, and would focus on trying to serve audiences not currently consuming The Post, though the details of how it would operate remain opaque. Winnett would oversee the traditional news operations after the 2024 election.

On Saturday, the New York Times reported Winnett and Lewis, when they worked as journalists in the U.K., based some reporting on stolen phone records. The report also raised questions about a payment made to obtain information that led to a 2009 investigation into government corruption that shook the British political establishment and led to several officials’ resignations.

On Sunday, The Post — citing unpublished book chapters and other documents — revealed new details about Winnett’s collaboration with a self-described “thief” who had used illicit means to obtain confidential information that appeared in news articles.

Neither Winnett nor Lewis responded to The Post or the Times about the reports.

Amid these new reports, The Post canceled a dinner it had planned to host Monday night at the annual advertising and media gathering Cannes Lions International Festival in southern France.

Earlier news reports described Lewis attempting to dissuade journalists from covering his involvement in a long-running British phone-hacking lawsuit. Lewis has denied trying to discourage Post journalists from covering the story. He called an NPR journalist who described a similar encounter “an activist, not a journalist.”

“The Washington Post sets and models the highest ethical standards in journalism to which every Post employee is expected to adhere,” a Post spokesperson said.

On Tuesday, Bezos made a nod to the journalism coming out of The Post newsroom: “A huge thank you for continuing to do the work that makes us all proud, and makes this institution so important.”