The Washington Post (locally known asThePost and, informally,WaPo orWP) is an Americandaily newspaper published inWashington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in theWashington metropolitan area[5][6] and has a national audience. In 2023, thePost had 130,000 print subscribers and 2.5 million digital subscribers, both of which were thethird-largest among American newspapers afterThe New York Times andThe Wall Street Journal. In 2025, the number of print subscribers had declined to below 100,000 for the first time in 55 years.[7]
ThePost was founded in 1877. In its early years, it went through several owners and struggled both financially and editorially. In 1933, financierEugene Meyer purchased it out of bankruptcy and revived its health and reputation; this work was continued by his successorsKatharine andPhil Graham, Meyer's daughter and son-in-law, respectively, who bought out several rival publications. ThePost's 1971 printing of thePentagon Papers helped spuropposition to the Vietnam War. ReportersBob Woodward andCarl Bernstein led the investigation into the break-in at theDemocratic National Committee, which developed into theWatergate scandal and the1974 resignation of PresidentRichard Nixon. In October 2013, the Graham family sold the newspaper toNash Holdings, a holding company owned byJeff Bezos, forUS$250 million.[8]
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Headquarters ofThe Washington Post at One Franklin Square
The Washington Post is regarded as one of the leading daily American newspapers along withThe New York Times, theLos Angeles Times, andThe Wall Street Journal.[19] ThePost has distinguished itself through its political reporting on the workings of the White House, Congress, and other aspects of the U.S. government. It is considered a newspaper of record in the U.S.[12][13]
The Washington Post does not print an edition for distribution away from theEast Coast. In 2009, the newspaper ceased publication of itsNational Weekly Edition due to shrinking circulation.[20] The majority of its newsprint readership is in Washington, D.C., and its suburbs in Maryland and Northern Virginia.[21]
As of March 2023, thePost's average printed weekday circulation is 139,232, making it the third largest newspaper in the country by circulation.[25]
For many decades, thePost had its main office at 1150 15th Street NW. This real estate remained with Graham Holdings when the newspaper was sold to Jeff Bezos' Nash Holdings in 2013. Graham Holdings sold 1150 15th Street, along with 1515 L Street, 1523 L Street, and land beneath 1100 15th Street, for $159 million in November 2013.The Post continued to lease space at 1150 L Street NW.[26] In May 2014,The Post leased the west tower ofOne Franklin Square, a high-rise building at 1301 K Street NW in Washington, D.C.[27]
Mary Jordan was the founding editor, head of content, and moderator forWashington Post Live,[28][29] The Post's editorial events business, which organizes political debates, conferences and news events for the media company, including "The 40th Anniversary of Watergate" in June 2012 that featured key Watergate figures including former White House counselJohn Dean,Washington Post editorBen Bradlee, and reportersBob Woodward andCarl Bernstein, which was held at the Watergate hotel. Regular hosts includeFrances Stead Sellers.[30][31][32]Lois Romano was formerly the editor ofWashington Post Live.[33]
TheWashington Post and Union in 1878The Washington Post building the week after the1948 United States presidential election; the "Crow-Eaters" sign is addressed toHarry Truman following his surprising re-election.
The newspaper was founded in 1877 byStilson Hutchins (1838–1912); in 1880, it added a Sunday edition, becoming the city's first newspaper to publish seven days a week.[34]
In April 1878, about four months into publication,The Washington Post purchasedThe Washington Union, a competing newspaper which was founded byJohn Lynch in late 1877. TheUnion had only been in operation about six months at the time of the acquisition. The combined newspaper was published from the Globe Building asThe Washington Post and Union beginning on April 15, 1878, with a circulation of 13,000.[35][36] ThePost and Union name was used about two weeks until April 29, 1878, returning to the original masthead the following day.[37]
In 1889, Hutchins sold the newspaper toFrank Hatton, a former Postmaster General, andBeriah Wilkins, a former Democratic congressman from Ohio. To promote the newspaper, the new owners requested the leader of theUnited States Marine Band,John Philip Sousa, to compose a march for the newspaper's essay contest awards ceremony. Sousa composed "The Washington Post".[38] It became the standard music to accompany the two-step, a late 19th-century dance craze,[39] and remains one of Sousa's best-known works.
In 1893, the newspaper moved to a building at 14th and E streets NW, where it would remain until 1950. This building combined all functions of the newspaper into one headquarters – newsroom, advertising, typesetting, and printing – that ran 24 hours per day.[40]
In 1898, during theSpanish–American War, thePost printedClifford K. Berryman's classic illustrationRemember the Maine, which became the battle-cry for American sailors during the War. In 1902, Berryman published another famous cartoon in thePost –Drawing the Line in Mississippi. This cartoon depicts PresidentTheodore Roosevelt showing compassion for a small bear cub and inspired New York store ownerMorris Michtom to create the teddy bear.[41] Wilkins acquired Hatton's share of the newspaper in 1894 at Hatton's death.
The July 21, 1969, edition with the headline"'The Eagle Has Landed': Two Men Walk on the Moon", covering theApollo 11 landing
After Wilkins' death in 1903, his sons John and Robert ran thePost for two years before selling it in 1905 toJohn Roll McLean, owner of theCincinnati Enquirer. During the Wilson presidency, thePost was credited with the "most famous newspapertypo" in D.C. history according toReason magazine; thePost intended to report that President Wilson had been "entertaining" his future-wife Mrs. Galt, but instead wrote that he had been "entering" Mrs. Galt.[42][43][44]
When McLean died in 1916, he put the newspaper in a trust, having little faith that his playboy sonEdward "Ned" McLean could manage it as part of his inheritance. Ned went to court and broke the trust, but, under his management, the newspaper slumped toward ruin. He bled the paper for his lavish lifestyle and used it to promote political agendas.[45]
During theRed Summer of 1919 the Post supported the white mobs and even ran a front-page story which advertised the location at which white servicemen were planning to meet to carry out attacks on black Washingtonians.[46]
In 1929, financierEugene Meyer, who had run theWar Finance Corp. sinceWorld War I,[47] secretly made an offer of $5 million for thePost, but he was rebuffed by Ned McLean.[48][49] On June 1, 1933, Meyer bought the paper at a bankruptcy auction for $825,000 three weeks after stepping down asChairman of the Federal Reserve. He had bid anonymously, and was prepared to go up to $2 million, far higher than the other bidders.[50][51] These includedWilliam Randolph Hearst, who had long hoped to shut down the ailingPost to benefit his own Washington newspaper presence.[52]
ThePost's health and reputation were restored under Meyer's ownership. In 1946, he was succeeded as publisher by his son-in-law,Philip Graham.[53] Meyer eventually gained the last laugh over Hearst, who had owned the oldWashington Times and theHerald before their 1939 merger that formed theTimes-Herald. This was in turn bought by and merged into thePost in 1954.[54] The combined paper was officially namedThe Washington Post and Times-Herald until 1973, although theTimes-Herald portion of thenameplate became less and less prominent over time.
The merger left thePost with two remaining local competitors, theWashington Star (Evening Star) andThe Washington Daily News. In 1972, the two competitors merged, forming theWashington Star-News.[55][56]
Following Graham's death in 1963, control of The Washington Post Company passed to his wife,Katharine Graham (1917–2001), who was also Eugene Meyer's daughter.[57] Few women had run prominent national newspapers in the United States, and Katharine Graham described herself as particularly anxious about assuming this role.[58] She served as publisher from 1969 to 1979.[57]
Graham took The Washington Post Company public on June 15, 1971, in the midst of thePentagon Papers controversy. A total of 1,294,000 shares were offered to the public at $26 per share.[59][60] By the end of Graham's tenure as CEO in 1991, the stock was worth $888 per share, not counting the effect of an intermediate 4:1 stock split.[61]
Graham also oversaw the Post company's diversification purchase of the for-profit education and training companyKaplan, Inc. for $40 million in 1984.[62] Twenty years later, Kaplan had surpassed thePost newspaper as the company's leading contributor to income, and by 2010 Kaplan accounted for more than 60% of the entire company revenue stream.[63]
Executive editor Ben Bradlee put the newspaper's reputation and resources behind reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who, in a long series of articles, chipped away at the story behind the 1972 burglary ofDemocratic National Committee offices in theWatergate complex in Washington. ThePost's dogged coverage of the story, the outcome of which ultimately played a major role in the resignation of PresidentRichard Nixon, won the newspaper aPulitzer Prize in 1973.[64]
In 1972, the "Book World" section was introduced with Pulitzer Prize-winning criticWilliam McPherson as its first editor.[65] It featured Pulitzer Prize-winning critics such asJonathan Yardley andMichael Dirda, the latter of whom established his career as a critic at thePost. In 2009, after 37 years, with great reader outcries and protest,The Washington Post Book World as a standalone insert was discontinued, the last issue being Sunday, February 15, 2009,[66] along with a general reorganization of the paper, such as placing the Sunday editorials on the back page of the main front section rather than the "Outlook" section and distributing some other locally oriented "op-ed" letters and commentaries in other sections.[67] However, book reviews are still published in the Outlook section on Sundays and in the Style section the rest of the week, as well as online.[67]
In 1995, the domain name washingtonpost.com was purchased. That same year, a failed effort to create an online news repository called Digital Ink launched. The following year it was shut down and the first website was launched in June 1996.[68]
The demolition ofThe Washington Post's 15th Street headquarters in April 2016One Franklin Square, the home of thePost
In August 2013,Jeff Bezos purchasedThe Washington Post and other local publications, websites, and real estate[69][70][71] forUS$250million,[72][73][74] transferring ownership to Nash Holdings LLC, Bezos's private investment company.[73] The paper's former parent company, which retained some other assets such as Kaplan and a group of TV stations, was renamedGraham Holdings shortly after the sale.[75][76]
Nash Holdings, which includes thePost, is operated separately from technology companyAmazon, which Bezos founded and where he is as of 2022[update] executive chairman and the largest single shareholder, with 12.7% of voting rights.[77][78]
Bezos said he has a vision that recreates "the 'daily ritual' of reading thePost as a bundle, not merely a series of individual stories..."[79] He has been described as a "hands-off owner", holding teleconference calls with executive editorMartin Baron every two weeks.[80] Bezos appointedFred Ryan (founder and CEO ofPolitico) to serve as publisher and chief executive officer. This signaled Bezos' intent to shift thePost to a more digital focus with a national and global readership.[81]
In 2015, thePost moved from the building it owned at 1150 15th Street to a leased space three blocks away at One Franklin Square onK Street.[82] Since 2014 thePost has launched an online personal finance section,[83] a blog, and a podcast with a retro theme.[84][85] ThePost won the2020 Webby People's Voice Award for News & Politics in the Social and Web categories.[86]
In October 2023, thePost announced it would cut 240 jobs across the organization by offering voluntary separation packages to employees.[89] In a staff-wide email announcing the job cuts, interim CEOPatty Stonesifer wrote, "Our prior projections for traffic, subscriptions and advertising growth for the past two years — and into 2024 — have been overly optimistic".[89] ThePost has lost around 500,000 subscribers since the end of 2020 and was set to lose $100 million in 2023, according toThe New York Times.[89] The layoffs promptedDan Froomkin ofPresswatchers to suggest that the decline in readership could be reversed by focusing on the rise of authoritarianism (in a fashion similar to the role thePost played during theWatergate scandal) instead of staying strictly neutral, which Froomkin says places the paper into an undistinguished secondary role in competition with other contemporary media.[90] As part of the shift in tone, in 2023 the paper closed down the "KidsPost" column for children, the "Skywatch" astronomy column, and the "John Kelly's Washington" column about local history and sights, which had been running under different bylines since 1947.[91][92]
In May 2024, CEO and publisher William Lewis announced that the organization would embraceartificial intelligence to improve the paper's financial situation, telling staff it would seek "AI everywhere in our newsroom."[93]
In June 2024,Axios reported thePostfaced significant internal turmoil and financial challenges. The new CEO, Lewis, has already generated controversy with his leadership style and proposed restructuring plans. The abrupt departure of executive editor Buzbee and the appointment of two white men to top editorial positions have sparked internal discontent, particularly given the lack of consideration for the Post's senior female editors, as well as allegations that in March 2024 Lewis put pressure on Buzbee to bury a story about his involvement in a British phone-hacking scandal. Additionally, Lewis' proposed division forsocial media andservice journalism has met with resistance from staff. Recent reports alleging Lewis' attempts to influence editorial decisions, including pressuring Buzbee to drop a story about his past ties to aphone hacking scandal, and offeringNPR's media correspondent an exclusive interview about thePost's future in exchange for not publishing similar allegations, have further shaken the newsroom's morale.[94][95] Staffers also became worried about Lewis' drinking and uninvolved role in the newsroom.[96] Lewis continues to grapple with declining revenue and audience on the business front, seeking strategies to regain subscribers lost since the Trump era.[97]
Later that month, the paper ran a story allegedly exposing a connection between incoming editor Robert Winnett and John Ford, a man who "admitted to an extensive career using deception and illegal means to obtain confidential information."[98] Winnett withdrew from the position shortly thereafter.[99]
In January 2025, thePost announced it will layoff 4% of its staff, less than 100 people. Newsroom employees will not be affected.[100]
In January 2025, editorial cartoonistAnn Telnaes resigned fromThe Washington Post and published a blog post titled "Why I'm quitting the Washington Post",[101] in which she criticized the paper for allegedly refusing to run a cartoon critical of the relationship between American billionaires and PresidentDonald Trump, calling the decision "dangerous for a free press". Telnaes' blog post and the nature of her cartoon sparked conversations about the paper's ownership under Bezos.[102]
In February 2025, Bezos announced that the opinion section of thePost would give voice only to opinions that support "personal liberties andfree markets" and divergent opinions would not be published by thePost.[103][104]David Shipley,The Post's opinion editor, resigned after trying to persuade Bezos to reconsider the new direction.[104] Within two days of the announcement, it was reported that over 75,000 digital subscribers had canceled their subscriptions.[105] In March 2025, Ruth Marcus, columnist and editor forThe Washington Post's opinion section, resigned after 40 years with the organization when the paper's publisher, Will Lewis, killed a column she wrote that was critical of the new direction.[106] ThePost also fired columnistKaren Attiah in September 2025.[107]
Two United States soldiers and aSouth Vietnamese soldierwaterboard a capturedNorth Vietnamese prisoner during theVietnam War; the image, which appeared on the front cover ofThe Washington Post on January 21, 1968, led to the court-martial of a United States soldier, althoughThe Washington Post described waterboarding as "fairly common".[108][109]
In 1933, financier Eugene Meyer bought the bankruptPost, and assured the public that neither he nor the newspaper would be beholden to any political party.[110] But as a leading Republican who had been appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve byHerbert Hoover in 1930, his opposition toRoosevelt'sNew Deal colored the paper's editorials and news coverage, includingeditorializing news stories written by Meyer under a pseudonym.[111][112][113] His wifeAgnes Ernst Meyer was a journalist from the other end of the spectrum politically. ThePost ran many of her pieces including tributes to her personal friendsJohn Dewey andSaul Alinsky.[114][115][116][117]
In 1946, Meyer was appointed head ofWorld Bank, and he named his son-in-law Phil Graham to succeed him asPost publisher. The post-war years saw the developing friendship of Phil and Kay Graham with the Kennedys, the Bradlees and the rest of the "Georgetown Set", including manyHarvard Universityalumni that would color thePost's political orientation.[118] Kay Graham's most memorable Georgetown soirée guest list included British diplomat and communist spyDonald Maclean.[119][120]
Ben Bradlee became the editor-in-chief in 1968, and Kay Graham officially became the publisher in 1969, paving the way for the aggressive reporting of thePentagon Papers and Watergate scandals. ThePost strengthened public opposition to the Vietnam War in 1971 when it published thePentagon Papers.[126] In the mid-1970s, some conservatives referred to thePost as "Pravda on thePotomac" because of its perceived left-wing bias in both reporting and editorials.[127] Since then, the appellation has been used by both liberal and conservative critics of the newspaper.[128][129]
In thePBS documentaryBuying the War, journalistBill Moyers said in the year prior to theIraq War there were 27 editorials supporting theBush administration's desire to invade Iraq. National security correspondentWalter Pincus reported that he had been ordered to cease his reports that were critical of the administration.[130] According to author and journalistGreg Mitchell: "By thePost's own admission, in the months before the war, it ran more than 140 stories on its front page promoting the war, while contrary information got lost".[131]
Responding to criticism of the newspaper's coverage during the run-up to the2008 presidential election, formerPostombudsmanDeborah Howell wrote: "The opinion pages have strong conservative voices; the editorial board includes centrists and conservatives; and there were editorials critical of Obama. Yet opinion was still weighted toward Obama."[133] According to a 2009Oxford University Press book by Richard Davis on the impact of blogs on American politics, liberal bloggers link toThe Washington Post andThe New York Times more often than other major newspapers; however, conservative bloggers also link predominantly to liberal newspapers.[134]
Since 2011, thePost has been running a column called "The Fact Checker" that thePost describes as a "truth squad".[135] The Fact Checker received a $250,000 grant fromGoogle News Initiative/YouTube to expand production of videofact checks.[135]
In mid-September 2016, Matthew Ingram ofForbes joinedGlenn Greenwald ofThe Intercept, and Trevor Timm ofThe Guardian in criticizingThe Washington Post for "demanding that [former National Security Agency contractor Edward] Snowden ... stand trial on espionage charges".[136][137][138][139]
In February 2025, Jeff Bezos announced that the paper's opinion pages would endorse "personal liberties and free markets" to the exclusion of other views. According to the NPR, the announcement suggested thePost was adopting alibertarian line.[105]
In the vast majority of U.S. elections, for federal, state, and local office, thePost editorial board has endorsedDemocratic candidates.[141] The paper's editorial board and endorsement decision-making are separate from newsroom operations.[141] Until 1976, thePost did not regularly make endorsements in presidential elections. Since it endorsedJimmy Carter in 1976, thePost has endorsed Democrats in presidential elections, and has never endorsed a Republican for president in the general election,[141] although in the1988 presidential election, thePost declined to endorse either GovernorMichael Dukakis (the Democratic candidate) or Vice PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush (the Republican candidate).[141][142] ThePost editorial board endorsedBarack Obama in 2008[143] and 2012;[144]Hillary Clinton in2016;[145] andJoe Biden in2020.[146] In 2024, thePost controversially announced that it would no longer publish presidential endorsements.[147][148][149]
While the newspaper predominantly endorses Democrats in congressional, state, and local elections, it has occasionally endorsedRepublican candidates.[141] It endorsedMaryland GovernorRobert Ehrlich's unsuccessful bid for a second term in 2006.[141][150] In 2006, it repeated its historic endorsements of every Republican incumbent for Congress inNorthern Virginia.[151] ThePost editorial board endorsedVirginia's Republican U.S. SenatorJohn Warner in his Senate reelection campaign in 1990, 1996 and 2002; the paper's most recent endorsement of aMaryland Republican for U.S. Senate was in the 1980s, when the paper endorsed SenatorCharlies "Mac" Mathias Jr.[141] In U.S. House of Representatives elections,moderate Republicans inVirginia andMaryland, includingWayne Gilchrest,Thomas M. Davis, andFrank Wolf, have enjoyed the support of thePost; thePost also endorsed RepublicanCarol Schwartz in her campaign in Washington, D.C.[141]
Eleven days prior to the2024 presidential election, CEO and publisher William Lewis announced that thePost would not endorse a candidate for 2024. It was the first time since the 1988 presidential election that the paper did not endorse the Democratic candidate. Lewis also said that the paper would not make endorsements in any future presidential election. Lewis stated that the paper was "returning to our roots" of not endorsing candidates, and explained that the move was "a statement in support of our readers' ability to make up their own minds", and "consistent with the values thePost has always stood for and what we hope for in a leader: character and courage in service to the American ethic, veneration for the rule of law, and respect for human freedom in all its aspects." Sources familiar with the situation stated that thePost editorial board had drafted an endorsement forKamala Harris, but that it had been blocked by order of thePost's owner Jeff Bezos.[147][148][149]
The move was criticized by former executive editor Martin Baron, who considered it "disturbing spinelessness at an institution famed for courage",[147] and suggested that Bezos was fearing retaliation from 2024 Republican candidate Donald Trump that could impact Bezos's other businesses if Trump were elected.[152] Editor-at-largeRobert Kagan and columnistMichele Norris resigned in the wake of the decision, and editorDavid Maraniss said that the paper was "dying in darkness", a reference to the paper's current slogan.Post opinion columnists jointly authored an article calling the decision to not endorse a "terrible mistake", and it was condemned by the Washington Post Guild, a union unit representingPost employees.[147][148][149][153] More than 250,000 people (about ten percent of thePost's subscribers) cancelled their subscriptions, and three members of the editorial board left the board, though they remain with thePost in other positions.[154][155][156] An endorsement of Harris was subsequently published by the paper's humoristAlexandra Petri, who explained that "if I were the paper, I would be a little embarrassed that it has fallen to me, the humor columnist, to make our presidential endorsement", and that "I only know what's happening because our actual journalists are out there reporting, knowing that their editors have their backs, that there's no one too powerful to report on, that we would never pull a punch out of fear."[157]
Condemning thePost's decision, several columnists, including Will Bunch,Jonathan Last, Dan Froomkin,Donna Ladd andSewell Chan, described it as an example of what historianTimothy Snyder calls anticipatory obedience.[158][159][160][161][162] Snyder himself criticized the decision, asserting that "'do not obey in advance' is the main lesson of the twentieth century."[163]Andrew Koppelman, in an opinion piece forThe Hill, praised thePost for revealing its cowardice.[164]
In September 1980, a Sunday feature story appeared on the front page of thePost titled "Jimmy's World" in which reporterJanet Cooke wrote a profile of the life of an eight-year-old heroinaddict.[165] Although some within thePost doubted the story's veracity, the paper's editors defended it, and assistant managing editor Bob Woodward submitted the story to thePulitzer Prize Board atColumbia University for consideration.[166] Cooke was awarded thePulitzer Prize for Feature Writing on April 13, 1981. The story was subsequently found to be a complete fabrication, and the Pulitzer was returned.[167]
In July 2009, in the midst of an intense debate overhealth care reform,Politico reported that a health-care lobbyist had received an "astonishing" offer of access to thePost's "health-care reporting and editorial staff".[168]Post publisherKatharine Weymouth had planned a series of exclusive dinner parties or "salons" at her private residence, to which she had invited prominent lobbyists, trade group members, politicians, and business people.[169] Participants were to be charged $25,000 to sponsor a single salon, and $250,000 for 11 sessions, with the events being closed to the public and to the non-Post press.[170]Politico's revelation gained a somewhat mixed response in Washington[171][172][173] as it gave the impression that the parties' sole purpose was to allow insiders to purchase face time withPost staff.
Almost immediately following the disclosure, Weymouth canceled the salons, saying, "This should never have happened." White House counselGregory B. Craig reminded officials that underfederal ethics rules, they need advance approval for such events.Post Executive EditorMarcus Brauchli, who was named on the flier as one of the salon's "Hosts and Discussion Leaders", said he was "appalled" by the plan, adding, "It suggests that access toWashington Post journalists was available for purchase."[174][169]
Dating back to 2011,The Washington Post began to include "China Watch" advertising supplements provided byChina Daily, an English language newspaper owned by thePublicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party, on the print and online editions. Although the header to the online "China Watch" section included the text "A Paid Supplement to The Washington Post",James Fallows ofThe Atlantic suggested that the notice was not clear enough for most readers to see.[175] Distributed to thePost and multiple newspapers around the world, the "China Watch" advertising supplements range from four to eight pages and appear at least monthly. According to a 2018 report byThe Guardian, "China Watch" uses "a didactic, old-school approach to propaganda."[176]
In 2020, a report byFreedom House, titled "Beijing's Global Megaphone", criticized thePost and other newspapers for distributing "China Watch".[177][178] In the same year, 35 Republican members of the U.S. Congress wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice in February 2020 calling for an investigation of potentialFARA violations byChina Daily.[179] The letter named an article that appeared in thePost, "Education Flaws Linked to Hong Kong Unrest", as an example of "articles [that] serve as cover for China's atrocities, including ... its support for thecrackdown in Hong Kong."[180] According toThe Guardian, thePost had already stopped running "China Watch" in 2019.[181]
In March 2022, reporter Paul Farhi was suspended for five days without pay after he tweeted about the publication's policy on bylines and datelines regarding Russian-based stories.[182]
In 2020,The Post suspended reporterFelicia Sonmez after she posted a series of tweets about the2003 rape allegation against basketball star Kobe Bryant afterBryant's death. She was reinstated after over 200Post journalists wrote an open letter criticizing the paper's decision.[183] In July 2021, Sonmez suedThe Post and several of its top editors, alleging workplace discrimination; the suit was dismissed in March 2022, with the court determining that Sonmez had failed to make plausible claims.[184]
In June 2022, Sonmez engaged in a Twitter feud with fellowPost staffersDavid Weigel, criticizing him over what he later described as "an offensive joke", and Jose A. Del Real, who accused Sonmez of "engaging in repeated and targeted public harassment of a colleague".[185] Following the feud, the newspaper suspended Weigel for a month for violating the company's social media guidelines, and the newspaper's executive editorSally Buzbee sent out a newsroom-wide memorandum directing employees to "Be constructive and collegial" in their interactions with colleagues.[185] The newspaper fired Sonmez, writing in an emailed termination letter that she had engaged in "misconduct that includes insubordination, maligning your co-workers online and violatingThe Post's standards on workplace collegiality and inclusivity."[186]The Post faced criticism from the Post Guild after refusing to go to arbitration over the dismissal, stating that the expiration of the Post's contract "does not relieve the Post from its contractual obligation to arbitrate grievances filed prior to expiration."[182]
In 2019,Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann filed a defamation lawsuit against thePost, alleging that it libeled him in seven articles regarding theJanuary 2019 Lincoln Memorial confrontation between Covington students and theIndigenous Peoples March.[187][188] A federal judge dismissed the case, ruling that 30 of the 33 statements in thePost that Sandmann alleged were libelous were not, but allowed Sandmann to file an amended complaint as to three statements.[189] After Sandmann's lawyers amended the complaint, the suit was reopened on October 28, 2019.[190][191]
In 2020,The Post settled the lawsuit brought by Sandmann for an undisclosed amount.[192]
ThePost's decision to run an op-ed byMohammed Ali al-Houthi, a leader inYemen'sHouthi movement, was criticized by some activists on the basis that it provided a platform to an "anti-Western andantisemitic group supported by Iran."[197]
The headline of a 2020 op-ed titled "It's time to give the elites a bigger say in choosing the president" was changed, without an editor's note, after backlash.[198]
In 2022, actorJohnny Depp successfully sued ex-wifeAmber Heard for an op-ed she wrote inThe Washington Post where she described herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse two years after she had publicly accused him of domestic violence.[199][200]
Donald Trump holds up a copy ofThe Washington Post during remarks on February 6, 2020, in the East Room of theWhite House.
Speaking on behalf of President Nixon, White House Press SecretaryRon Ziegler infamously accusedThe Washington Post of "shabby journalism" for their focus onWatergate only to apologize when the damning reporting on Nixon was proved correct.[201]
45th/47th president Donald Trump repeatedly spoke out againstThe Washington Post onhis Twitter account,[202] having "tweeted or retweeted criticism of the paper, tying it to Amazon more than 20 times since his campaign for president" by August 2018.[203] In addition to often attacking the paper itself, Trump used Twitter to blast variousPost journalists and columnists.[204]
During the2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, SenatorBernie Sanders repeatedly criticizedThe Washington Post, saying that its coverage of his campaign was slanted against him and attributing this to Jeff Bezos' purchase of the newspaper.[205][206] Sanders' criticism was echoed by the socialist magazineJacobin[207] and the progressive journalist watchdogFairness and Accuracy in Reporting.[208]Washington Post executive editor Martin Baron responded by saying that Sanders' criticism was "baseless and conspiratorial".[209]
Arc XP is a department ofThe Washington Post, which provides a publishing system and software for news organizations such as theChicago Tribune and theLos Angeles Times.[214][215]
In 1986, during negotiations between thePost and the Newspaper Guild union over a new contract, five employees, including Newspaper Guild unit chairman Thomas R. Sherwood and assistant Maryland editorClaudia Levy, sued thePost for overtime pay, stating that the newspaper had claimed that budgets did not allow for overtime wages.[217]
In June 2018, over 400 employees ofThe Washington Post signed an open letter to the owner Jeff Bezos demanding "fair wages; fair benefits for retirement, family leave and health care; and a fair amount of job security." The open letter was accompanied by video testimonials from employees, who alleged "shocking pay practices" despite record growth in subscriptions at the newspaper, with salaries rising an average of $10 per week, which the letter claimed was less than half the rate of inflation. The petition followed on a year of unsuccessful negotiations between The Washington Post Guild and upper management over pay and benefit increases.[218]
As of 2023, the Washington Post Guild represented around 1,000 staff members at thePost.[219] In December 2023, more than 750 journalist and staffers at thePost went on strike, accusing the company of refusing to "bargain in good faith" on issues including issues including pay increases, pay equity, remote work policies, and mental health resources.[220] Later the same month, the Washington Post Guild won a new three-year contract with the paper, ending 18 months of negotiations.[221][219]
In May 2025, a majority of technology workers at thePost voted to unionize as the Washington Post Tech Guild, representing more than 300 engineering, product design, and data workers at thePost.[222]
^Freund, Charles Paul (July 2001)."D.C. Jewels: The closing of a historic shop is a triumph of meaning over means".Reason.Archived from the original on February 13, 2010. RetrievedNovember 5, 2009....Mrs.Edith Galt, who became the second wife of Woodrow Wilson ... She also figures in the most famous newspaper typo in D.C. history.The Washington Post ... Intending to report that Wilson had beenentertaining Mrs. Galt in a loge at the National, early editions instead printed that he was seenentering her there.
^Weingarten, Gene (July 11, 2006)."Chatological Humor* (Updated 7.14.06)".The Washington Post.Archived from the original on November 9, 2012. RetrievedNovember 5, 2009.ThePost said that the President spent the afternoon "entertaining" Mrs. Galt, but they dropped the "tain" in one edition. Wilson LOVED it.
^Ernest Lamb (April 8, 1934). "New Deal a Mistake, Says Glass, Holding U.S. Will Regret It: Senator, in Interview, Tells 'Unvarnished Truth'". Eugene Meyer. The Washington Post. pp. 1, 4.
^Ernest Lamb (October 8, 1936). "Council Fought Security Act, Records Show: Statements by Wagner and Winant Are Refuted by Hearing Transcript". Eugene Meyer. The Washington Post. pp. 1, 12.
^Agnes Ernst Meyer (December 10, 1939). "In Defense of Dr. Dewey". The Washington Post. p. B8.
^Janet Cooke (September 28, 1980)."Jimmy's World".The Washington Post. p. A1.Archived from the original on August 22, 2016. RetrievedJuly 9, 2016.
^Bill Green (April 19, 1981),"THE PLAYERS: It Wasn't a Game",The Washington Post: ""I was blown away by the story," Woodward said. . . . "Jimmy" was created, lived and vanished in Woodward's shop. . . . Woodward supported the [Pulitzer] nomination strongly. . . ."I think that the decision to nominate the story for a Pulitzer is of minimal consequence. I also think that it won is of little consequence. It is a brilliant story -- fake and fraud that it is. It would be absurd for me [Woodward] or any other editor to review the authenticity or accuracy of stories that are nominated for prizes.""Archived May 26, 2021, at theWayback Machine.
^Dan Kennedy (July 8, 2009),"Selling out the Washington Post",The Guardian: "Perhaps the most shocking thing about Washington Post publisherKatharine Weymouth's misbegotten plan to sell access to her journalists at off-the-record dinners in her own home is that so many found it so shocking."Archived October 9, 2021, at theWayback Machine.
^Andrew Beaujon,Richard Cohen Leaves the Washington PostArchived August 9, 2020, at theWayback Machine,Washington Post (September 23, 2019): "In the years since he displayed a remarkable ability to survive at the paper despite ...frequently stepping in it with regard to race, like the time he wrote that 'People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children; or the time that he wrote sympathetically about the man who killed Trayvon Martin..."
Kelly, Tom.The imperial Post: The Meyers, the Grahams, and the paper that rules Washington (Morrow, 1983)
Lewis, Norman P. "Morning Miracle. Inside the Washington Post: A Great Newspaper Fights for Its Life".Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly (2011) 88#1 pp: 219.
Merrill, John C. and Harold A. Fisher.The world's great dailies: profiles of fifty newspapers (1980) pp 342–52
Roberts, Chalmers McGeagh.In the shadow of power: the story of the Washington Post (Seven Locks Pr, 1989)
Previously the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, No Edition Time from 1953–1963 and the Pulitzer Prize for Local Investigative Specialized Reporting from 1964–1984
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