Will Lewis does not cast off talent lightly. He heaves it away with great force

Jeff Bezos and the Murdoch lickspittle he hired are succeeding in their mission of wrecking the newspaper he bought because journalism is inconsistent with his hard MAGA turn:

• CEO Will Lewis earlier this month encouraged staffers “who do not feel aligned with the company’s plan” to reflect on the buyout offer.
• Opinion: Longtime editorial journalists such as Pulitzer winner Jonathan Capehart, Philip Bump and Catherine Rampell have taken the buyout, in addition to a slew of other names, Axios has reported.
  • The buyouts follow a string of editorial resignations, including the Post’s former opinion section editor, David Shipley, and veteran editor Ruth Marcus, in response to editorial policy changes.
• News: Several top reporters have left the paper or taken buyouts in recent months, including Dan Balz, Aaron Blake, Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey, Michael Scherer and Leigh Ann Caldwell.
  • Top editors such as Matea Gold and Phil Rucker have also left for the New York Times and CNN, respectively.
  • The Post’s longtime fact-checker Glenn Kessler has taken a buyout.
  • Video: The newsroom’s video team, which has won several awards and created a reputation for getting ahead on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, has seen a bunch of recent exits.
  • Dave Jorgenson, the company’s viral TikTok content creator, is leaving to start his own venture with two other Washington Post video colleagues.
  • According to Politico, six other video journalists have left in the past few months.

Lewis has made it clear what he doesn’t like (serious reporters, opinion writers more honest and more left-wing than Marc Theissen) and doesn’t seem to have articulated any positive vision for the paper going forward other than Bezos’s right-wing editorial line. And I don’t think it’s an oversight — Bezos doesn’t care about the money so reducing the Post to a zombie shell is pretty clearly the end, not the means.