Washington Post Executive Editor Steps Down

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Facts

The Washington Post announced Sunday that amid an organizational restructuring, it's replacing executive editor Sally Buzbee with Matt Murray, a one-time editor at The Wall Street Journal.¹
Buzbee, who was formerly with the Associated Press, took over at the Post in 2021 as their first female editor while the paper was struggling after the lucrative years of the Trump presidency. Publisher Will Lewis said in May that the Post lost $77M in 2023.²
In addition, Murray will be moved to a new division of the Post's newsroom after the 2024 US presidential election. Then Robert Winnett, formerly Lewis's colleague at the UK's Telegraph, will take over.³
In a conference call Sunday, Buzbee reportedly voiced her objections to Lewis's newsroom spin-off and financial turnaround moves, saying she would have preferred to stay at the paper but reached an impasse with Lewis.⁴
The Post editorial unit will split into three divisions — core news, opinions, and a new social and service branch — the heads of which will report to Lewis in a move he says will diversify their appeal and increase subscriptions.⁵
Beginning this fall, Lewis plans to launch tiered subscriptions and expand the use of video storytelling and artificial intelligence through the new newsroom. Buzbee has not issued a public statement regarding her departure.⁶

Narrative A, as provided by Vanity Fair. What a shame that Lewis has decided to gut the Post and appoint his buddies and former coworkers to top jobs. Morale at the Post has bottomed out and Lewis is putting financial maneuvers ahead of insightful and hard-hitting journalism at a crucial time in the US and the world.
Narrative B, as provided by The Daily Beast. In the face of union squabbles, layoffs, internal discord, and an exodus of newsroom veterans, something has to be done to steady the ship. The harsh reality is that Lewis must take decisive action to save this historic paper from irrelevance and begin its turnaround.