The Washington Post’s new CEO, Will Lewis, is already working on damage control after sparking outrage at the traditional newspaper this week.
“I know that past hurt and interactions this week have eroded trust,” Lewis wrote in a company-wide memo Friday morning. Obtained by The Wall Street Journal.
“Let’s forget about them and act on good will.”
The British-born media executive announced the disastrous restructuring plans hours after the abrupt resignation of The Washington Post’s first female editor-in-chief, Sally Busby, and appealed to the paper’s nearly 4,000 employees to forgive the barrage of negative attention that has been showered on the 144-year-old paper this week.
Lewis replaced the pioneers with white men and appointed others to equal, secondary positions in the new hierarchy.
“I’ve had some quiet time this week thinking about leadership style, trust and humility,” he wrote in the memo.
The new CEO released excerpts of two emails he received from staff this week, both expressing support for Mr Lewis in the face of widespread backlash.
Lewis, who took up the job in November last year, also disputed a New York Times article that said he had been “clashing” with Buzbee for months before he stepped down as editor-in-chief.
He ended the memo by acknowledging the need to improve his own listening and communication skills, and invited staff to join joint sessions on a restructuring plan that would split the company into “newsrooms 1,” “newsroom 2” and “newsroom 3.”
“When it comes to your concerns about creating a diverse, American workforce, I know we can’t just pay lip service to it. We need to put in the work,” Lewis said. “And we will.”
Mr. Lewis’ headaches became clear during an all-staff meeting on Monday, when he introduced Matt Murray, a former editor in chief of The Wall Street Journal, as Mr. Buzbee’s interim successor.
Lewis’s other friend, Robert Winnett, a Briton who has worked at the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph, will take over as head of Newsroom First.
Murray will then take on the role of leading a “third newsroom” focused on service and social media journalism.
Under Lewis’ plan, the opinion section would function as a “second newsroom.”
The meeting angered staff, with several questioning Lewis’ hiring practices and lip service to increasing diversity in the newsroom.
One source said Lewis had “removed any diversity from its leadership” and therefore “is not expected to attract new readers”.
