The Washington Post
| The Washington Post | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Washington, D.C. |
| Top official: | William Lewis, CEO |
| Founder(s): | Stilson Hutchins[1] |
| Year founded: | 1877[1] |
| Website: | Official website |
The Washington Post is a daily newspaper covering national and international news and events serving residents of Washington, D.C., and surrounding areas in Maryland and Virginia.[2] The Washington Post is owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and is published under the umbrella of Bezos' private investment company, Nash Holdings.[3]
Background
The first edition of The Washington Post was published in December 1877 by founder Stilson Hutchins. The paper's initial circulation was 10,000 units, containing four pages of copy at three cents per paper. In 1880, the Post published its first Sunday edition. During this time, Theodore Roosevelt and Joseph Pulitzer contributed pieces to the paper. Roosevelt's articles about "Western stories" had no byline or attribution. In 1889, Hutchins sold the paper to "Frank Hatton, a Republican Cabinet member, and Beriah Wilkins, a former Democratic congressman."[1]
In 1905, John R. McLean, who also owned The Cincinnati Enquirer, acquired the paper. The paper was put up for auction in June 1883. California-based financier Eugene Meyer won the auction with a bid of $825,000. In the first decade of Meyer's ownership, both circulation and advertising tripled, but the paper continued to lose money. Upon Meyer's 1946 appointment by Harry Truman (D) as president of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development -- what is today known as the World Bank -- Meyer's son-in-law, Philip Graham, was named publisher.[4] Graham served as publisher until 1961 and president of The Washington Post Company until his death in 1963.[1]
In 1963, Katharine Graham, daughter of Eugene Meyer and widow of Philip Graham, became president of The Washington Post Company. Graham took the company public in 1971 "with sale of Class B common stock to the general public for $26 per share."[1] In 1973, while serving as publisher of the Post, Graham was elected chair of the board and chief executive of The Washington Post Company. Her son, Donald E. Graham was named executive vice president and general manager of the newspaper in 1976 and was named publisher three years later. Katharine Graham remained chairman and CEO of The Washington Post Company.[1]
By 1991, Donald E. Graham was named CEO of The Washington Post Company. He continued to serve as publisher of the Post as well. In 2000, Graham was named chairman of the newspaper. Boisfeuillet Jones, Jr., was named the Post's publisher and chief executive. In 2008, Katharine Weymouth was named chief executive of Washington Post Media, comprised of The Washington Post, Express and El Tiempo Latino. She was also named publisher of the Post. In 2013, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos purchased the Post for $250 million dollars under the umbrella of his private holdings firm, Nash Holdings.[3][5]
According to their website, the mission of the paper is to " is to provide riveting storytelling for all of America, leveraging an unmatched newsroom legacy combined with an innovative approach to journalism and technology, fueled by AI. We don’t just observe change; we drive it."[6]
Leadership
As of October 2025, the following individuals held leadership positions at The Washington Post:[7]
- William Lewis, Chief Executive Officer
- Matt Murray, Executive Editor
- Jason Anders, Managing Editor
- Liz Seymour, Managing Editor
- Peter Spiegel,Managing Editor
- Scott Vance, Managing Editor
- Kimi Yoshino, Managing Editor
- Greg Manifold, Visuals
- Karen Pensiero, Standards
- Ann Gerhart, Deputy Managing Editor
- Doug Jehl, Deputy Managing Editor
- Mark W. Smith, Deputy Managing Editor
- Jamie Stockwell, Deputy Managing Editor
- Adam O'Neal, Opinion Editor
- Mary Duenwald, Deputy Opinion Editor
- James Hohmann, Deputy Opinion Editor
- Mark Lasswell, Deputy Opinion Editor
- Eleanor Breen,Chief of Staff
- L. Wayne Connell, Human Resources
- Gregg J. Fernandes, Print Operations
- Jeff D'Onofrio, Finance
- John B. Kennedy, General Counsel & Labor
- Vineet Khosla, Technology, Product & Data
- Johanna Mayer-Jones, Advertising
- Suzi Watford, Strategy
- Karl Wells, Growth
Work and activities
2020 presidential debates
- See also:Presidential debates, 2020
The Washington Post hosted the fifth Democratic primary debate along with MSNBC.[8]
2016 Democratic debate
Univision and The Washington Post hosted the sixth and final Democratic presidential debate on March 9, 2016, at Miami-Dade College in Miami, Fla. The debate aired in Spanish on Univision and was simulcast in English on CNN and Univision's Fusion network. Univision also live streamed the debate at univision.com. The debate was moderated by Maria Elena Salinas and Jorge Ramos of Univision as well as Karen Tumulty of The Washington Post. Facebook provided social media information throughout the debate, including comments and questions from viewers.[9][10][11][12]
Notable endorsements
This section displays endorsements this organization made in elections within Ballotpedia's coverage scope.
Circulation
As of June 2025, the paper's circulation was 97,000 copies.[13]
Finances
As of October 2025, financial data was not available for The Washington Post. If you have information to share, click here.
Noteworthy events
The Pentagon Papers
In 1971, The Washington Post, along with The New York Times, published excerpts of the Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force, which was commissioned by then-Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in 1967.[14] The government sought to enjoin the newspapers from further publication of the leaked document. Both newspapers sought relief in federal court from the government's prior restraint claim. The United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit agreed with the government and enjoined the Times from further publication, however the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with the Post. The cases were merged and brought before the Supreme Court of the United States. The cases were argued on June 26, 1971, and the Court issued a per curiam opinion four days later against the government.[15] Upon receiving the Court's ruling in what is now known as "The Pentagon Papers" case, the publisher of the Post, Kathleen Graham, said, "we are extremely gratified not only from the point of view of newspapers, which was not the least of our concerns, but gratified from the point of view of government, and the public's right to know, which is what we were concerned with."[16]
Watergate
Over a two year period, The Washington Post, particularly reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as well as editor Ben Bradlee, broke the story that the Nixon White House authorized a break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters located in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. in June 1972. The Post's reporting prompted a Congressional investigation which confirmed that the Administration had a secret recording system to record Oval Office conversations. The special prosecutor investigating Watergate presented a motion to subpoena the recordings, which the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted. Nixon claimed executive privilege as grounds for immunity from compliance with the subpoena, but both the D.C. Circuit Court and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected that argument. On July 24, 1974, Chief Justice Warren Burger delivered the Court's opinion in United States v. Nixon, ordering the Administration to comply with the District Court's subpoena.[17] On July 27, 1974, the United States House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary passed three articles of impeachment, charging obstruction of justice. Nixon resigned the Presidency on August 8, 1974.[18][19] The Washington Post received the 1973 Pulitzer Prize Public Service Medal "for its investigation of the Watergate case."[20]
See also
- What is an influencer
- Washington, D.C.
- Washington D.C. media
- Media influencers
External links
- The Washington Post website
- The Washington Post Facebook account
- The Washington Post Twitter account
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 The Washington Post, "Washington Post Co. timeline," accessed March 2, 2016
- ↑ Mondo Times, "Washington Post," accessed March 2, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Washington Post, "Washington Post closes sale to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos," October 1, 2013
- ↑ World Bank, "International Bank for Reconstruction and Development," September 30, 2014
- ↑ Columbia Journalism Review, "Brick by brick," July/August 2014
- ↑ Washington Post, "WP Advertising," accessed October 28, 2025
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Leadership at The Washington Post," accessed October 28, 2025
- ↑ NBC News, "Read: Democratic debate transcript, November 20, 2019," November 20, 2019
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Washington Post and Univision to host Democratic debate," October 8, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Univision/Washington Post Democratic debate to be held March 9," November 2, 2015
- ↑ CNN, "CNN to simulcast Democratic presidential debate," February 29, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Credentialing information now available for The Washington Post and Univision News DNC-Sanctioned Debate in Miami, Florida," March 2, 2016
- ↑ Forbes, "The Washington Post Is Running Out Of Readers Willing To Pay," June 21, 2025
- ↑ National Archives and Records Administration, "Pentagon Papers," accessed March 3, 2016
- ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, New York Times Company v. United States; United States v. The Washington Post Company et al., June 30, 1971
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Court Rules for Newspapers, 6-3," July 1, 1971
- ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, United States v. Nixon, July 24, 1974
- ↑ The Washington Post, "The Watergate Story: Timeline," accessed March 3, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Watergate," accessed March 3, 2016
- ↑ The Pulitzer Prizes Archive, "1973 Winners," accessed March 3, 2016
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