The Washington Publish’s media critic bashed his personal paper for failing to cowl the inner turmoil plaguing the Jeff Bezos-owned publication — together with the choice to kill an editorial cartoon that confirmed the Amazon billionaire kowtowing to President-elect Donald Trump.
Erik Wemple didn’t pull any punches throughout a reside chat session with readers when requested in regards to the controversial resolution to scrap the cartoon, which led Pulitzer Prize winner Ann Telnaes to resign.
“The Post has a long history of warts-and-all coverage of its internal matters. But there has been nothing from the newsroom’s media desk about this matter — just an AP story that we posted to our website,” Wemple stated Monday.
He went on to say that not too long ago appointed govt editor Matt Murray defended the choice as a part of his new coverage to “not cover ourselves” as a result of it’s “conflict-ridden.”
Wemple stated Murray informed him: “Most news orgs have the same or similar policies, of course. I set this weeks ago, so there is nothing about it specifically tied to the cartoon.”
Wemple ripped the brand new coverage.
“The Post’s willingness over the years to cover its slip-ups and scandals has helped to set it apart from the many news organizations that refuse to hold themselves to the same rules to which they hold politicians, CEOs, professional athletes, etc. And it’s something, I believe, that subscribers have appreciated,” he stated.
The Beltway broadsheet has been hit by a wave of defections in previous months after Bezos killed an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris a couple of weeks earlier than the Nov. 5 election. Roughly 250,000 readers reportedly canceled their subscriptions following the choice.
to Trump. anntelnaes.substack
paper spiked her cartoon. Fb/Ann Telnaes
On Tuesday, the New York Instances reported that WaPo will lay off 4% of the staffers, about 100 individuals, in its enterprise divisions resembling promoting gross sales and advertising as Bezos and writer Will Lewis battle to offset print income declines and reorient the paper’s left-leaning protection.
A rep for The Publish didn’t instantly return requests for remark.
Wemple, who joined WaPo in 2017, has been outspoken about his outlet’s missteps.
In 2022, Wemple reported on the drama within the newsroom that happened following an faulty piece penned by colleague Taylor Lorenz. Lorenz exited the paper in 2024 amid one other scandal by which she branded President Biden a “war criminal” in a social media publish and lied to her bosses about it.
Wemple has had a lot to chew on with regards to his personal paper over the previous yr. The Washington Publish has been on the heart of media flare-ups from rising tensions between Lewis and his workers, together with govt editor Sally Buzbee’s abrupt resolution to step down.
Rob Winnett was tapped by Lewis to exchange Buzbee however he withdrew himself from that place after Publish journalists dug into the editor’s journalistic previous.
Extra not too long ago, a number of high-profile journalists have left the paper, together with Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, two well-known political reporters, who joined The Atlantic, and Josh Dawsey, an investigative politics reporter, who departed for the Wall Avenue Journal.
