Washington Post staff summon billionaire owner Jeff Bezos for emergency summit before Trump inauguration

A letter has been sent to Jeff Bezos on behalf of more than 400 Washington Post journalists demanding a sitdown with the newspaper owner.

Staffers ranging from longtime stalwarts to rank-in-file reporters aired frustrations with the paper’s leadership – going as far to outright question it.

First reported by NPR, the correspondence comes amidst a mass exodus of top talent and financial problems at the once progressive newspaper.

It was obtained Wednesday by The New York Times, a little over a week after the Post laid off 100 of its staff. The cuts amounted to 4 percent of the paper’s total workforce. 

In September the Post laid off a quarter of staffers at its software unit ArcXP, months after implementing a series of buyouts in a failed bid to prevent layoffs. 

That same month the Post’s new publisher and CEO Will Lewis, a former editor of the British Daily Telegraph, issued a statement to staffers in the DC office about the paper’s dire situation in terms of readership and finances. He ruffled feathers by telling journalists: ‘People are not reading your stuff’.

Staff unrest grew when Bezos, 60, broke tradition by blocking The Post’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris weeks before the election.

A quarter-million subscribers canceled subscriptions in response and a number of high profile journalists quit. Remaining heavy hitters Dan Balz, Carol D Leonnig, and Margaret ‘Pooh’ Shapiro were said to have signed the recent meeting asking for a meeting at the Post’s office.

‘You recently wrote that ensuring the long-term success and editorial independence of this newspaper is essential,’ the letter began, quoting Bezos’s explanatory op-ed where he cited ‘distrust’ of media as the basis for the lack of an endorsement.

‘We agree, and we believe you take as much pride in The Washington Post as we do,’ the letter continued.

‘We are deeply alarmed by recent leadership decisions that have led readers to question the integrity of this institution, broken with a tradition of transparency, and prompted some of our most distinguished colleagues to leave.’

The petition then appears to promise that ‘more departures [are] imminent’, after the exits of well-known political reporters Michael Scherer and Ashley Parker, both poached by The Atlantic.

‘This goes far beyond the issue of the presidential endorsement, which we recognize as the owner’s prerogative. 

‘This is about retaining our competitive edge, restoring trust that has been lost, and reestablishing a relationship with leadership based on open communication,’ it went on, weeks after longtime managing editor Matea Gold also jumped ship to the New York Times. 

‘We urge you to come to our office and meet with Post leaders, as you have in the past, about what has been happening at The Post. 

‘We understand the need for change, and we are eager to deliver the news in innovative ways. But we need a clear vision we can believe in.’

Penned ahead of an fast-approaching Trump presidency, the correspondence concluded with staffers stating they ‘are committed to pursuing independent journalism that holds power to account.’

They also vowed to continue ‘reporting the news without fear or favor,’ saying: ‘That will never change [and that] nothing will shake our determination to follow the reporting wherever it leads.’

The note went on to offer a quote from Bezos offer up up when he became The Post’s owner in 2013, at the cost of $250million.   

‘The values of The Post do not need changing,’ he said at the time. 

The letter, in turn, finished with staffers saying: ‘We urge you to stand with us in reaffirming those values.’ 

Reported signatories, according to NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik, include Balz, Leonnig, and Shapiro.

All have held prominent positions at the Post for decades, with Balz, 78, currently the paper’s chief correspondent. He started work there as a reporter in 1978.

Leonnig, meanwhile, has been a staff writer at The Washington Post since 2000, and was part of a team of reports that won 2014’s Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for reporting that shined a light on the NSA’s extensive spying on everyday Americans.

Shapiro has had links with the paper since the 80s, during which she held stints as metro reporter and as co-bureau chief in Tokyo from 1987 to 1990. Today, she is one of the paper’s most senior editors. 

Their coalition, which included ‘star journos,’ lesser-known staffers, and editors who are not in the union, according to Folkenflik, was formed less than a month after the exodus that also included three prominent opinions section writers: David Hoffman, Molly Roberts and Robert Kagan.

All quit in direct response the Bezos-endorsement decision.

The paper’s White House Correspondent, Tyler Pager, also left late last month, announcing he would be rejoining his old employer – and primary Post rival – The New York Times. 

Opinion editor Amanda Katz and her deputy Charles Lane have also since gone, along with columnist Jennifer Rubin, who confirmed to CNN on Monday that she was leaving her job at the paper after 14 years.

As for why, she said it was also due to Bezos becoming too chummy with the soon-to-be president.  

It comes as media companies ranging from MSNBC to The Walt Disney Corporation have faced criticism for attempts to curry favor with President-elect Donald Trump.

Bezos seemingly caught wind of the shifting political tides in the weeks before the election, breaking tradition by blocking The Washington Post’s planned endorsement of Harris in late October. 

In it, the 60-year-old said it was the ‘principled’ and ‘right’ decision for the Post to not weigh-in. 

This paved the way for his primary business interest Amazon to strike a $40million deal with Melania Trump last week. 

The documentary, currently being directed by #MeToo outcast Bret Ratner, is set for release in the second half of 2025. 

Sources familiar with the matter revealed the amount Amazon paid to license the rights to Puck, saying the deal also includes a follow-up docuseries.

It’s unclear what Melania is being paid personally for the project, which will air on Prime Video and get some time in theaters as well, the insiders said.

Disney and Paramount are said to have lost out on the streaming rights after a bidding war with Amazon. Neither Netflix nor Apple took part, the sources said.