Turmoil at the Washington Post has intensified after a contentious town hall meeting on Wednesday in which the newspaper’s publisher, Fred Ryan, astounded staffers by announcing substantial job cuts to come, then quit the meeting, refusing to answer questions.
“This is embarrassing, this is embarrassing,” one staffer was heard saying as Ryan made his hasty exit, according to video footage posted on social media.
Ryan dropped his “bombshell announcing more layoffs”, as the newspaper’s Guild union described it, at the end of a meeting intended for discussion of future editorial plans.
Instead, it descended into a tetchy confrontation between the publisher, who said he would not allow the meeting to be turned into “a grievance session for the Guild”, and staffers audibly protesting that he was “disrespecting this room”.
Ryan said there would be moves to eliminate a…
