With nervousness working excessive within the Washington Publish newsroom, what higher time for Jeff Bezos to point out up?
The billionaire proprietor made an look, for the primary time in over a 12 months, on the Publish on Thursday, sitting in—together with writer Fred Ryan—on the morning information assembly. The glass convention room was, unsurprisingly, packed. “I’m delighted to be right here and see all these faces,” Bezos advised the room, per the New York Instances. “Thanks for permitting me to pay attention in.” To which govt editor Sally Buzbee stated, “Nice. Let’s have a information assembly.”
A Publish spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, however advised different shops, “Jeff is visiting The Publish this week and assembly with Fred Ryan, Sally Buzbee and different members of the employees.” Among the many different staffers he met with included prime editors Cameron Barr, Matea Gold, Lori Montgomery, Phil Rucker, Krissah Thompson and star political reporter Josh Dawsey, particulars first reported by the Instances {that a} Publish staffer confirmed to Self-importance Truthful.
Although framed as an informal meet-and-greet, it’s arduous for employees to not marvel if a uncommon Bezos go to is tied to ongoing challenges on the paper. The Publish has been on edge for months now, amid experiences of its enterprise struggles, questions on management, high-profile departures, and impending layoffs. Late final 12 months, Buzbee introduced that the Publish can be killing its weekly journal—eliminating, with it, the positions of the journal’s 10 staffers—and laid off Pulitzer Prize profitable dance critic Sarah Kaufman. The scenario worsened a couple of weeks later when, throughout a city corridor, Ryan dropped the bombshell that “a variety of positions” can be eradicated within the first quarter of 2023 after which shocked the newsroom by refusing to take questions—and thus turning the city corridor “right into a grievance session for the Guild,” as he put it. A Publish reporter within the room documented the kerfuffle and tweeted it out for everybody to see.
“The Publish needs to be within the enterprise of placing out the press, not being the press,” one staffer advised me. “The corporate goes within the flawed route. If you happen to’re Jeff Bezos taking a look at an acquisition such as you’d take a look at any, it looks like there must be a course correction.”
The journal layoffs and Ryan’s bungling of the city corridor drove a minimum of 60 folks to affix the Guild, with signal ups persevering with to roll in. The variety of dues paying members has nearly doubled since Bezos purchased the paper in 2013, the Guild stated. Since then, members have pressed for solutions in regards to the layoffs—who they’ll influence, why they’re occurring, and when—in bargaining classes and have gotten no solutions, based on the Guild. Most just lately they requested such questions in a stop and desist letter concerning the layoffs, despatched by the Guild’s labor lawyer to the corporate’s final week, expressing concern that such cuts can be in violation of the Guild’s contract, together with its seniority clause. The Guild additionally despatched an e mail to newsroom leaders and different higher-ups on the group, urging them to cease the layoffs from occurring. Whereas some on the Publish feared that the layoffs might come as early as this week, Bezos being on the workplace seemingly threw issues off.
