Margaret Sullivan on the 'still-essential Washington Post'

“As I see what’s happening to the Post — the stunning exodus of newsroom talent, the misguided priorities of its editorial pages, and the lack of leadership by its current publisher, Will Lewis — I am in sympathy with the thousands who canceled their subscriptions after the Post, at the behest of owner Jeff Bezos, killed its endorsement of Kamala Harris last fall,” says Sullivan, a former media columnist at the Post, in her newsletter.

“I’m stunned when I hear about the one-on-one meetings that the new opinion editor is having with staffers to inform them that what they do is ‘not aligned’ with his priorities,” she says.

 
“And yet. There’s still enough left of the Post — its very bones, I hope — that I find much to admire. I’m also hopeful about the leadership on the news side (not the opinion side) of Matt Murray, who came to the Post after holding the top editing job at the Wall Street Journal,” Sullivan says.

“And I know that, despite all these high-profile departures, the newsroom is still a robust one, with so many top journalists doing their jobs extremely well. The newsroom headcount is still around 800 — that is huge these days,” she says.

“I’m angry about what’s happening there, which is unnecessary, misguided and destructive,” she says. “But I’m hopeful that the ship can eventually be righted, and that the Post — its staff, its history, its very soul — will sail on.”