Woke Journo Revolt at Washington Post Successfully Blocks Editor Who Vowed Reform (2024)

“an example of exactly why the paper has been in freefall–the inmates are running the asylum at the Post”

The Washington Post might be doomed. Last year, the liberal paper lost almost $80 million dollars. The executive editor was recently forced out, and the paper decided to bring in Robert Winnett of the Telegraph as the new chief.

But the woke staff doesn’t want to change their ways, so they revolted by running a hit piece about Winnett and it worked. Winnett backed out.

Tim Graham of NewsBusters provides more background:

For weeks now, The Washington Post has been plagued by internal turmoil over some top new hires. It started with new publisher Will Lewis, a former Rupert Murdoch employee who quickly attracted “opposition research” from NPR media reporter David Folkenflik, a man who reports incessantly on Murdoch like the mogul’s a James Bond villain — at taxpayer expense.

This caused a predictable ruckus among leftists, both inside the Post and outside. Since the paper is owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, the Posties treat the newspaper like a charity and not a business. They don’t seem to care that the Post lost $77 million over the past year and had to offer buyouts to several hundred staffers to address the losses.

The subscribers were in revolt in a web chat with Post media blogger Erik Wemple. Wrote one: “What’s the best way for subscribers to let Jeff Bezos know we don’t like how he’s hiring so many men from Rupert Murdoch’s empire to be in charge of The Washington Post? Many people are simply canceling their subscriptions, but I’m wondering if we have better options.”

This is how the Post decided to handle the situation. They ran a hit piece on their own incoming editor.

Unpublished book drafts and other documents raise questions about Robert Winnett’s journalistic record just months before he is to assume a top newsroom role at The Washington Post. https://t.co/johLofYGBI

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 17, 2024

And now, Winnett is out. From Politico:

Robert Winnett withdraws from becoming next Washington Post senior editor

Robert Winnett will no longer become The Washington Post’s senior editor amid growing criticism over his alleged ties to unethical journalism practices.

In a message to staff Friday morning, Post publisher Will Lewis announced “with regret” that Winnett had “withdrawn” from the position of editor and would remain at The Telegraph, a U.K.-based newsroom where he currently serves as deputy editor.

David Strom wrote at Hot Air:

The newsroom commissars were so upset that they did an “investigation” into Robert Winnett, the incoming M.E. and produced a nasty and distorted hit piece on him over the weekend. It was extraordinary, and an example of exactly why the paper has been in freefall–the inmates are running the asylum at the Post.

Now the reporters are doing a victory lap, running a story that is a thinly-veiled “we got him!” piece.

They’re like entitled campus brats. Journalists for the Post might as well have formed a mob in front of the building and chanted, Whose paper? OUR paper!

WaPo staff threw a massive hissy fit like the mental toddlers that they are, can’t blame Winnett for realizing he was walking into an intellectually and ideologically toxic work environment and deciding he didn’t need that

It’ll be fun watching you guys go under

— Enguerrand VII de Coucy (@ingelramdecoucy) June 21, 2024

Ace of Spades sees this as a victory, given what it will do to the Post eventually:

This is wonderful news.

The media was already filled with woke progressives but, starting in 2016 and then accelerating after the Summer of George, they hired only minority feminist ultra-progressives. If you didn’t have custom pronouns, luridly neon Danger Hair, and more piercings than Quint’s abdomen,* you could no longer work in the (giggle) “prestige” media.

The New York Times wokies demanded multiple scalps of White Men (spit) or non-conforming Jews in editorial positions. They got the scalps.

Now the wokies at the even-more subverted Washington Post have gotten the firing they were demanding.

John Nolte of Breitbart News is also celebrating:

Above all, the Post has lost the thing it most cherished: its ability to shape and manipulate public opinion.

Those days are now over, and only serious reforms can reverse the slide. Winnett promised reforms, but now, less than three weeks after his hiring was announced, he’s out. This means the Woke Tail still wags the dog over at the Post. This means nothing will change, which is good news for anyone who cares about the truth.

The Post is doomed, to which all good people can only say … tee hee.

The cool kids table at the Washington Post is safe for another day, but at what cost? And what happens when Jeff Bezos gets tired of pouring money down this hole?

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