In addition to this extremely loud whispering campaign against Fred Ryan coming from within the <i>Post </i>building, he has recently been hobbled by the defection of a number of top executives.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo

The most damaging thing about the New York Times story wasn’t that the Post was losing money. What lifted eyebrows was the Times’ access to internal Post documents and the fact that more than 20 people “with knowledge of the Post’s business operations” spoke for this article (mostly anonymously). The Times piece collects additional dirt: We learn of Ryan’s complaints about low-productivity reporters, his request for “attendance” records of video conference meetings as a way to judge productivity, and his plans to send disciplinary letters to workers who don’t come to the office. It’s damaging, and downright embarrassing, for an institution like the Post to suffer so many breaches of confidentiality, especially to a competitor. It’s one thing for angry journalists to pepper their publisher with angry questions at a town hall. But when a publisher’s own team starts leaking sensitive information, he’s in big trouble. No wonder Ryan is off his game!

In addition to this extremely loud whispering campaign against Ryan coming from within the Post building, he has recently been hobbled by the defection of a number of top executives. In his Wednesday evening dispatch, Puck’s Dylan Byers listed them: the paper’s chief information officer, its chief product officer, its vice president of audience development and analytics, and its chief communications officer.

The recent departures of top Post journalists to other outlets can’t be laid at Ryan’s feet, but the discontent of his hand-picked executive editor, Sally Buzbee, can. CNN’s Oliver Darcy reports that Buzbee first heard of Ryan’s new cuts the evening before the town hall, which, if true, was very short notice. When the Magazine was closed, Ryan was spared the newsroom’s ire because Buzbee said she took “full responsibility” for it. But how much longer will she provide Ryan a buffer? According to a Wednesday piece by Semfor’s Max Tani, Buzbee has “begun musing aloud to staff” about whether she should resign. He writes, “The fact that Buzbee would even float the prospect of stepping down in a meeting with rank-and-file staff lends credence to a newsroom perception of friction between her and Ryan at a moment when members of the publication’s union have tended to sympathize with Buzbee and focus the union’s ire on the publisher.”

The only time a publisher should want to be the face of the franchise is when he owns it. But Ryan is only a well-paid employee. Having painted a self-portrait of himself as a tactless, huffy autocrat facing internal rebellion from both Post reporters and leaky, business-side employees, Ryan has undercut his authority. By making himself the personification of the paper’s struggles, he could be the next to receive a layoff notice.

******You haven’t lived until you’ve been laid off. I’ve lived twice. Send me layoff notices at [email protected] No new email alert subscriptions are being honored at this time. My Twitter feed is too important to fire. My Mastodon account has no seniority, nor does my Post account. My RSS feed sings, Take this job and shove it.

Editor’s Note: Jack Shafer’s wife works for the Post