Ex-Washington Put up chief Marty Baron blasts ‘gutless’ Bezos amid main layoffs

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Marty Baron, the previous government editor of The Washington Put up, took direct purpose at its proprietor Jeff Bezos on Wednesday because the paper introduced sweeping layoffs.

"This ranks among the many darkest days within the historical past of one of many world’s best information organizations," Baron stated in a press release posted to social media. "The Washington Put up’s ambitions will likely be sharply diminished, its gifted and courageous workers will likely be additional depleted, and the general public will likely be denied the ground-level, fact-based reporting in our communities and all over the world that's wanted greater than ever."

Baron acknowledged "acute enterprise issues" and the "severely disruptive" interval of the media panorama, saying "radical innovation is required."

WASHINGTON POST CLOSES SPORTS DEPARTMENT AS PART OF SWEEPING LAYOFFS

The Washington Put up introduced sweeping layoffs, impacting a 3rd of the corporate, Fox Information Digital has realized. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Pictures)

"The Put up’s challenges, nonetheless, have been made infinitely worse by ill-conceived choices that got here from the very prime —from a gutless order to kill a presidential endorsement 11 days earlier than the 2024 election to a remake of the editorial web page that now stands out just for its ethical infirmity," Baron wrote. "Loyal readers, furious as they noticed proprietor Jeff Bezos betraying the values he was speculated to uphold, fled The Put up. In fact, they have been pushed away, by the a whole bunch of hundreds."

He continued, "The proprietor, in a notice to readers, wrote that he aimed to spice up belief in The Put up. The impact was one thing else solely: Subscribers misplaced belief in his stewardship and, however the newsroom’s stellar journalism, The Put up total. Equally, many main journalists at The Put up misplaced confidence in Bezos, and jumped to different information organizations. Additionally they, in impact, have been pushed away. Bezos’s sickening efforts to curry favor with President Trump have left an particularly ugly stain of their very own. This can be a case research in near-instant, self-inflicted model destruction."

WASHINGTON POST STAFFERS FEELING 'BETRAYED' AS TURMOIL, LOOMING LAYOFFS ROCK BILLIONAIRE JEFF BEZOS’ NEWSROOM

Former Washington Put up government editor Marty Baron took purpose on the paper's billionaire proprietor Jeff Bezos in a scathing response to main layoffs. (Henry NicholsAFP by way of Getty Pictures; Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures)

Baron went on to say he was grateful for Bezos' "steadfast help" when he led the paper as its government editor from 2013-2021, saying Bezos "got here below brutal stress from Trump" however "spoke forcefully and eloquently of a free press and The Put up's mission."

"I want I detected the identical spirit as we speak. There isn't a signal of it," Baron stated. "Like many others, I’d like to listen to the proprietor and the writer he appointed articulate a recent imaginative and prescient that provides the prospect of monetary stability and progress, demonstrates creativeness and creativity, honors the heritage of The Put up, exhibits appreciation for its outstanding workers and alerts a agency sense of function. It's years overdue."

The Washington Put up didn't instantly reply to Fox Information Digital's request for remark.

EX-WASHINGTON POST STAFFERS ACCUSES JEFF BEZOS OF TRYING TO ‘SURVIVE' TRUMP RATHER THAN SAVE PAPER

Washington Put up staffers have resorted to immediately addressing billionaire proprietor Jeff Bezos amid widespread hypothesis that vital layoffs are on the horizon. (Stefano Rellandini/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)

The "Democracy Dies in Darkness" paper introduced sweeping layoffs Wednesday with total departments being shuttered in what the corporate is looking a "vital restructuring."

The Put up is shuttering the sports activities desk in its present type, dialing again its worldwide footprint, making its Metro part extra "nimble and centered" and eliminating its Books part. A 3rd of the corporate has been affected, Fox Information Digital has realized.

Fox Information' Brian Flood contributed to this report.

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Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox Information Digital. Story suggestions will be despatched to joseph.wulfsohn@fox.com and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.