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Absences Highlight Turmoil at Washington Post During Documentary Premiere

The recent screening of a documentary focusing on the life of Katharine Graham, the iconic publisher of the Washington Post, drew attention not just for its content but for the conspicuous absence of the newspaper’s current leadership. The event took place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, attended by numerous notable business figures and political leaders, yet absent were any representatives from the Post’s current management team.

Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, was present at the 2025 Academy Awards in Los Angeles during the event. Current publisher and CEO Will Lewis, as well as executive editor Matt Murray, also opted not to attend. Reports indicate that Lewis had received a personal invitation but declined to participate, and Murray has not publicly commented on his absence.

This absence is particularly striking as the newspaper faces significant internal strife, much of it attributed to decisions made under the leadership of Bezos and Lewis. Lewis, who previously managed right-wing media outlets owned by Rupert Murdoch, was selected by Bezos to lead the Post, which raised concerns about his potential to reshape the publication in a manner akin to those outlets. These fears have been validated, particularly in light of his previous controversies, such as his involvement in the UK phone hacking scandal. Notably, NPR reported last summer that Lewis attempted to influence coverage of this scandal by offering an exclusive interview in exchange for suppressing the story.

The situation escalated during the 2024 election cycle, specifically in late October, when Bezos and Lewis decided to overturn the Washington Post editorial board’s endorsement of Kamala Harris. This decision triggered a dramatic backlash, resulting in the loss of 250,000 subscribers within just 24 hours, and this number exceeded 300,000 by election day. Although the company later launched an aggressive marketing campaign claiming over 400,000 new subscriptions, NPR noted that the Post still experienced a net loss of more than 200,000 subscribers since October.

Furthermore, in the wake of Bezos’s directive to align the newspaper’s opinion section exclusively with his political stance, more than 75,000 paying subscribers disengaged from the Post in a single week. This stark shift marks a significant departure from the era of Katharine Graham, who led the publication from 1963 until her death in 2001 and successfully navigated it through some of its most pivotal moments, including the Watergate scandal that ultimately contributed to President Nixon’s resignation.

Graham’s legacy was further enshrined during the documentary’s premiere, where her son Don, a former publisher himself, remarked on the current leadership’s divergence from the values that once defined their family’s stewardship of the newspaper. He expressed concern that the contemporary direction of the Post does not align with the principles Graham upheld throughout her tenure.

Despite the bold marketing attempts, the Washington Post finds itself at a crossroads, grappling with subscriber satisfaction, leadership decisions, and the challenge of maintaining its historical relevance in a rapidly changing media landscape.

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www.thewrap.com