Fred Ryan’s nine-year tenure because the publisher and chief executive of the Washington Post will come to an end in August, and he cited a “deep and growing concern in regards to the decline in civility” and “toxic” politics as the explanation why.
“I even have a deep and growing concern in regards to the decline in civility and respectful dialogue in our political process, on social media platforms and more broadly across our society,” Ryan wrote in a memo to the Washington Post’s greater than 1,000 staff.
The shift in leadership comes shortly after a round of layoffs by which about 2,500 Washington Post staff were sacked. Employees were informed that job cuts were imminent in Q1 of 2023 during an internal all-hands meeting back in December.
Before the meeting descended into chaos, Ryan blamed the cuts on worsening economic conditions. Flabbergasted reporters proceeded to hound Ryan with questions, as seen in a video taken on the meeting.
One employee might be heard referencing the broadsheet’s November decision to finish its Sunday magazine. The magazine’s 10 employees got pink slips when that move was announced late last yr.
Ryan then stormed out of the room.
Fred Ryan announced that Aug. 1 can be his final day as publisher and CEO of the Washington Post.AP
The 68-year-old newsroom veteran headed up the Post — which boasts the slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness” — for many of the decade because it was purchased by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos for $250 million in money in 2013.
Ryan was recruited to the position by the billionaire from his chief spot at Politico, which he co-founded in 2007.
In his memo, he recalled “an era when people could disagree without being unpleasant.”
In a memo to the newsroom, Ryan said he’s resigning due to “the decline in civility and respectful dialogue in our political process, on social media platforms and more broadly across our society.”
“Political leaders on opposite sides of the aisle could find common ground for good of the country,” he added. “Today, the decline in civility has turn into a toxic and corrosive force that threatens our social interactions and weakens the underpinnings of our democracy.”
He’ll go on to steer the Center on Public Civility on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, which prides itself on being nonpartisan.
In an interview published in his own paper accompanying his departure, Ryan called the move “a bookend for something I did early on in my profession,” having worked because the chief of staff to former President Reagan from 1989 to 1995, after Reagan left the White House.
Bezos handpicked Ryan for the chief role after he purchased the broadsheet for $250 million money in 2013.Getty Images
Ryan’s last day within the Washington Post newsroom can be on Aug. 1.
For the subsequent two months, Bezos announced that Patty Stonesifer, the founding head honcho of the Gates Foundation and more recently the director of the Amazon board, can be the Post’s interim CEO.
“She’ll head up our leadership team, steer us through this necessary transition and help me discover the publisher/CEO who will take The Post forward into the subsequent decade,” Bezos wrote in a memo addressed to the Washington Post team.
