Sarah Kaplan, a Washington Publish journalist, protests outdoors of the newspaper’s headquarters on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. That very same day, CEO Will Lewis was photographed on the NFL Honors in San Francisco.
Allison Robbert/AP/FR172296 AP
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Allison Robbert/AP/FR172296 AP
The Washington Publish Writer and Chief Govt Will Lewis introduced Saturday night he would depart after simply two years on the paper, a tenure marked by controversy and disaster.
Washington Publish Writer and CEO Will Lewis resigned Saturday, simply days after huge layoffs on the newspaper.
Photograph by Elliott O’Donovan for The Washington Publish through Getty Photos
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Photograph by Elliott O’Donovan for The Washington Publish through Getty Photos
Lewis known as his time “two years of transformation” in his resignation notice, nevertheless it was outlined by turbulence reasonably than a transparent path, and it ended with brutal job cuts. The paper’s chief monetary officer, Jeff D’Onofrio, will function performing CEO.
Greater than a 3rd of the newsroom was laid off Wednesday after Lewis’ guarantees of radical improvements did not staunch a number of years of annual losses within the tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}. At one level, losses hit $100 million, Lewis advised staffers in June 2024 throughout a rocky newsroom all-staff. The session occurred simply 5 months into his time on the Publish. But it proved to be his ultimate all-staff assembly.
He was successfully AWOL because the paper’s scope, ambitions and journalism have been radically redefined and constricted. Lewis performed no seen position in asserting the layoffs in a compulsory Zoom name for the newsroom on Wednesday. Nor did he publicly deal with the paper’s readers to allay their issues.
The coup de grace got here only a day later when Lewis was photographed in Northern California strolling a crimson carpet at a Tremendous Bowl occasion.
The newsroom had misplaced a lot religion in Lewis that in current weeks that journalists appealed immediately in letters to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the paper’s proprietor, to spare the paper from cuts and assist it discover monetary stability. Bezos didn’t reply to these appeals.
As NPR has beforehand reported, the sports activities desk was eradicated; the native workers decreased to a couple of dozen from greater than 40; the worldwide desk was decimated. Among the many layoffs: your complete Center East workforce, the bureau chief and one other warfare correspondent. The latter posted she acquired the e-mail informing her whereas she was in a warfare zone.
