Sally Buzbee is no longer the executive editor of the Washington Post after nearly three years on the job, the paper announced Sunday evening. She had been the first woman to hold that position at the paper.

The Post’s CEO and publisher William Lewis, who joined the publication in November, will replace Buzbee with former Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Matt Murray to lead the newsroom through the 2024 presidential election. Robert Winnett, deputy editor of The Telegraph Media Group, will take over after Murray. Lewis had previously worked with Murray when he was the publisher of the Wall Street Journal from 2014 to 2020, and with Winnett when he was the the editor of the Daily Telegraph.

Buzbee “told Post department heads late Sunday in a brief call that she had been presented with a reorganization plan that she didn’t want to be a part of, according to three people familiar with her remarks who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak,” the Post’s media reporters wrote in their Monday morning story.

The leadership changes follow Lewis’ plan to restore the Post’s financial health. In late May, he told staff that the Post had lost $77 million in the last year and that its audience had decreased by 50% since 2020. “To speak candidly: We are in a hole, and we have been for some time,” Lewis told employees.

One of Lewis’ solutions is to create Politico Pro-esque premium subscription tiers to encourage more readers to pay at different price points, and creating options for one-time use payments like Apple Pay. Lewis’ “Build It” plan “highlights the need to move away from the traditional one-size-fits-all approach and to create news for a broader range of readers and customers. This will focus more on video storytelling, embracing AI to help, and flexible payment methods,” per the Post’s own press release.

The news division will be restructured into three separate “newsrooms”: the first will house regular news content, the second for opinion, and the third will focus on “service and social media journalism and run separately from the core news operation. The aim is to give the millions of Americans — who feel traditional news is not for them but still want to be kept informed — compelling, exciting and accurate news where they are and in the style that they want.” Murray will lead this third newsroom after the election.

New statement from The Washington Post Guild, expressing concern over Ms. Buzbee's abrupt exit: pic.twitter.com/R9LpokVeIy

— Ben Mullin (@BenMullin) June 3, 2024

I don’t know what happened to our editor in chief Sally Buzbee, but I’ve been the only Palestinian journalist in so many organizations and she was the first newsroom director to ever tell me that my existence in this country and industry was an asset and not a liability.

— Leila Barghouty ليلى البرغوثي (@PLBarghouty) June 3, 2024

Speaking as a in an journalism institution (14 years and counting) , taking over an iconic US news brand is a big old cultural stretch for Brits – particularly right now. The Post under foreign editorial direction will be an interesting test

— emily bell (@emilybell) June 3, 2024

An interesting tidbit is that new WaPo EIC Matt Murray’s post-WSJ life involved a stint working on Hunterbrook, the “journalism hedge fund” I wrote about a few weeks back: https://t.co/N30CTBDR7G https://t.co/WsygsfUiNN

— Clare Malone (@ClareMalone) June 3, 2024

The new team running WaPo for 2024 was together at the WSJ from 2014-20, while that for 2025 reunites a partnership at the Sunday Times of London from 2002-05 and the Telegraph from 2007-10.
Thats a fascinating set of old boy networks, but hardly a history of major innovation.

— Richard Tofel (@dicktofel) June 3, 2024

Some WashPost thoughts, based on conversations with six people with knowledge of events, overlaid with a touch of analysis.

Let’s even call it a

First: Will Lewis wanted to force out Sally Buzbee and bring a trusted pal to run the WaPo newsroom. He wanted to make his mark.

— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) June 3, 2024

Each of our three newsrooms will be led by an outstanding white male, which we feel is especially appropriate in Washington DC. If these three newsrooms are successful, we will consider a fourth and fifth

— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) June 3, 2024

As @SallyBuzbee has overseen newsroom that has won 6 Pulitzers in 3 years, and new leaders – whatever their editorial record – come from titles that are not exactly ahead digitally, is the idea to try to reposition the Post center-right à la the Telegraph? https://t.co/HmBeSsV2Zg

— Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (@rasmus_kleis) June 3, 2024

2020: Our newsroom staff should reflect the rich diversity of our community, to better serve our readers

2024: Meet the 8 British guys in charge of US news

— Nu Wexler (@wexler) June 3, 2024

There is one and only one way the Washington Post can dig itself out of the hole it dug and putting a right-wing Brit in charge suggests they are doing the opposite. https://t.co/xXGZtf1Lb2 pic.twitter.com/u4TvP8w9FU

— Dan Froomkin (PressWatchers.org) (@froomkin) June 3, 2024

Need to know a lot more about it, but I can see a logic to this "third newsroom."

Instead of persuading the newsroom to try some new practice— whatever it may be— you can demo it in world three, then let the newsroom cherry pick.

(Not saying this is some radical new approach.) https://t.co/EXEeejZ45Y

— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) June 3, 2024