Fred Ryan’s nine-year tenure as publisher and chief executive of The Washington Post will end in August, citing “deep and growing concern over ‘declining civility’ and ‘toxic’ politics” as the rationale.
“I actually have 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 throughout our society,” Ryan wrote in a memo to greater than 1,000 The Washington Post staff.
The change in leadership comes shortly after a series of layoffs that saw roughly 2,500 Washington Post employees laid off. Employees were informed in regards to the upcoming reduction of employment in the primary quarter of 2023 during an internal meeting of all employees in December.
Before the assembly descended into chaos, Ryan blamed the cuts on deteriorating economic conditions. Astonished reporters began to harass Ryan with questions, as will be seen within the video recorded in the course of the meeting.
An worker may very well be heard commenting on Bezos’s November decision to shut its Sunday magazine. 10 warehouse employees got pink cards when the move was announced late last 12 months.
Ryan ran out of the room after some time.
The 68-year-old veteran editorial steered The Post – which boasts the slogan “Democracy dies at nighttime” – for the higher a part of a decade because it was bought by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for $250 million in money in 2013.
Ryan was recruited to the position by the billionaire from his top position at POLITICO, which he co-founded in 2007.
In his note, he recalled “an era when people could disagree without being unkind.”
“Political leaders on opposite sides of the corridor could find common ground for the nice of the country,” he added. “Today, the decline of non-public culture has develop into a toxic and destructive force that threatens our social interactions and weakens the foundations of our democracy.”
In consequence, he’ll head the Center on Public Civility on the President Ronald Reagan Foundation, which prides itself on being nonpartisan.
In an interview published in his own newspaper accompanying his departure, Ryan called the move “the idea of something I did early in my profession” while working as former President Reagan’s chief of staff from 1989 to 1995.
Ryan’s last day at The Washington Post will probably be August 1.
Over the subsequent two months, Bezos announced that Patty Stonesifer, founding father of the Gates Foundation and most recently Amazon’s CEO, can be The Post’s interim CEO.
“She’s going to lead our leadership team, guide us through this vital transition, and help me discover the publisher/CEO who will lead The Post into the subsequent decade,” Bezos wrote in a memo to The Washington Post team.