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The Washington Posthaste

With a second Donald Trump presidency on the immediate horizon, Jeff Bezos and Will Lewis will want a top editor in the chair soon.

Author

Oliver Darcy
November 11, 2024

The Washington Post building. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The race to become the next top editor of The Washington Post is heating up.

The process, in fact, is in its final stages, I'm told. The pool of candidates vying for the gig has been narrowed down to a final slate of candidates. Those candidates are expected to submit memos about their vision for the beleaguered newspaper before sitting down with owner Jeff Bezos for formal interviews.

Matea Gold, the managing editor who oversees the outlet's national, local, and investigative divisions, is a top internal contender for the job, I’m told. Gold is well-liked by staffers and selecting her would likely help Bezos and publisher Will Lewis make some progress on the gargantuan truth deficit they've opened up with rank-and-file staffers in recent months.

But Gold may not be the only internal candidate who could be tapped for the spot. It's not out of the realm of possibility that…

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The Return of Trump

The HuffPost homepage on Monday. (Screen grab)

Sanitizing Trump's Picks: Much of the legacy news media is failing to adequately convey to audiences just how radical some of Donald Trump's administration picks are. For example, when news broke Monday that Trump is expected to name Stephen Miller deputy chief of staff, most outlets failed to note that Miller is an extremist with a history of sharing articles from fringe websites, including the white supremacist website VDARE. The same was the case when Trump named Lee Zeldin as EPA head. Most of the coverage did not make note of his lengthy history aggressively promoting fossil fuels and showing little — if any — regard for the reality of climate change. It's all a little baffling given that the records of Trump's picks are in plain sight. But, for some reason, a good chunk of the coverage lacks crucial context, coming across more like press releases for what is shaping up to be an administration stuffed with radicals.

The Fourth Estate

Chris Wallace. (Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)

Wallace Walks: Chris Wallace astonished the media industry on Monday evening when he announced to The Daily Beast that he will exit CNN and cable news altogether — a shock decision that I'm told blindsided CNN. Wallace told The Beast's top editor, Hugh Dougherty, that he wants to try his hand at going independent via streaming or podcasting, describing such opportunities as "where the action seems to be." The longtime broadcaster added that he was "excited and liberated" by the notion of being "between jobs" for the first time in five decades. How much success Wallace has outside linear television remains to be seen, especially given much of his target audience finds their news via traditional means.

When I reached Wallace by email, he declined to comment further. CNN boss Mark Thompson said in a statement, "Wallace is one of the most respected political journalists in the news business with a unique track record across radio, print, broadcast television, cable television and streaming. We want to thank him for the dedication and wisdom he’s brought to all his work at CNN and to wish him the very best for the future."

CNN had attempted to renew Wallace. But I'm told that his reported $8 million salary was going to get a healthy haircut, a fact that irked the 77-year-old television veteran. Wallace, I'm told, had privately voiced displeasure with the notion that…

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