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Washington Post publisher Fred Ryan leaves paper after 9 years at helm

He is leaving the newspaper to lead a newly formed Center on Public Civility at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation

Washington Post publisher and chief executive Fred Ryan is leaving the newspaper after nine years in charge to lead a newly formed Center on Public Civility at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, the newspaper said on Monday.

Ryan will be replaced on an interim basis by Patty Stonesifer, formerly chief executive of the Gates Foundation and a member of the Amazon board, newspaper owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said. Ryan will stay on for two more months, Bezos said in a memo to staff members.

The Post expanded during the Trump administration, in an aggressive transition into digital. Ryan, the former CEO and a founder of Politico, oversaw the appointment of Sally Buzbee — the former Associated Press executive editor — as the Post’s top editor, replacing Marty Baron in 2021.

Like many news organisations, the Post has suffered from declining audience numbers and had to lay off staff members in recent years.

Ryan said that his departure, however, has nothing to do with the recent downturn, according to the Post.

“I have no doubt that the high-quality journalism of the standard of The Washington Post will always be successful,” he told the newspaper.

A year after Bezos bought the newspaper, Ryan was appointed to lead The Washington Post in 2014, taking over from Katharine Weymouth — granddaughter of legendary longtime CEO Katharine Graham — and ending the Graham family's eight-decade tenure as leaders of the largest newspaper in the nation's capital.

Ryan also served as chief of staff to then-President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and is currently chair of the board of trustees at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute.