In the latest sign that The Washington Post has lost its way, the paper’s acting executive editor killed a story reporting that managing editor Matea Gold had left to take a job at The New York Times.
NPR media reporter David Folkenflik writes that Matt Murray intervened and ordered that a story on Gold’s departure be deep-sixed. Now, this is all very complicated. Murray, who was brought in earlier this year by the Post’s ethically challenged publisher, Will Lewis, replaced Sally Buzbee after she quit rather than move over to head a “third newsroom” initiative that Lewis has talked about but has not really explained. (Buzbee recently was named to a top editing job at Reuters.)
Murray, in turn, is supposed to run the third newsroom after the Post chooses a new, permanent executive editor — and Gold, a respected insider, was thought to be a candidate for that position. But now Murray himself, who’s proved to be popular inside the newsroom (at least until this week), may want to stay right where he is; independent media reporter Oliver Darcy wonders if Murray killed the story about Gold’s departure in order to curry favor with Lewis. Adding to the intrigue is that Lewis was also Murray’s boss when they both worked at The Wall Street Journal.
If Murray does get to remove “interim” from his title, then Lewis will have to recruit someone to run the third newsroom, which will encompass social media something something and is supposed to be Lewis’ answer to the Times’ success in selling digital subscriptions for non-news products like games, food and consumer advice.
Gold had been the number-two editor at the Post and wanted the top position, but Folkenflik reports that she decided to leave after it became clear to her that she was not a contender:
Gold is highly regarded inside the Post newsroom, especially as a stabilizing figure. In a social media post, Associate Editor and columnist Karen Tumulty called Gold “deeply respected and deeply beloved” there. Six colleagues tell NPR they believe Lewis’s decision not to choose Gold helped push her into the arms of its leading competitor, compounding a sense of frustration internally.
Gold was not granted an interview with [owner Jeff] Bezos for the top position, according to colleagues. Beyond Murray, Clifford Levy, deputy publisher of the New York Times Co., Wirecutter and Athletic sites is believed to be in contention for the editor’s job.
That said, Lewis and Bezos may have regarded Gold as a solid, traditional editor at a time when they believe a transformational leader is needed. Darcy put it this way:
Both Lewis and Bezos are looking for a so-called “change agent” to radically rethink what The Post should look like as it moves into the future. Gold was thought of as someone who represented the institution as it has been, not a candidate who can carry out their vision of transformative change. At the end of the process, she never even received so much as an opportunity to make her case to Bezos in an interview setting, I’m told.
Who knows? Maybe they’re right, although it sounds like Lewis is heading toward a situation in which the paper’s top two leaders, he and his choice for executive editor, will both be white men, which is not a great look. Since Murray was promised the third-newsroom slot when he was recruited to the paper, that makes three white men. And editorial-page editor David Shipley makes four.
Even more disturbing is that Murray would kill an important story about a major institution — that is, The Washington Post. Those of us who have worked as media reporters know that you occasionally have to report on your own shop, as Folkenflik does at NPR and Darcy did when he was at CNN. The Boston Globe’s media reporter, Aidan Ryan, has an important story today about cuts at Boston Globe Media (see below). I had to report occasionally on The Boston Phoenix when I was the paper’s media columnist — no fun, but it’s part of the job description.
Sadly, at the Post these days they do things differently.
Media notes
• A better Fox News? A Nevada commissioner has ruled against Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to guarantee that his son Lachlan will remain in charge of his media holdings after his death, according to The New York Times (gift link). If that ruling holds up, it leaves open the possibility that Murdoch’s more politically moderate children, James, Elisabeth and Prudence, will move Fox News in a less hard-right direction after their 93-year-old father inevitably departs this vale of tears.
• Cuts at Stat News. The Boston Globe’s Aidan Ryan reports that Stat News, which covers medicine and the health-care industry, is eliminating 11 positions. The site, founded in 2015 by Boston Globe Media, had grown to 101 employees but had lagged since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Rapid growth led to rapid hiring, and the expenses at Stat grew faster than revenue was able to catch up,” Globe Media spokeswoman Carla Kath told Ryan in a statement.
• Support Media Nation. Please consider becoming a supporter of Media Nation for just $5 a month. You’ll receive a weekly newsletter with exclusive content, a roundup of the week’s posts, photography and music. If you’d like to read sample first, I’ve made last week’s newsletter public, so have a look.
Discover more from Media Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.