Mired in financial losses, the Washington Post intends to pivot its “news” coverage by bringing in outside, “non-professional” writers and artificial intelligence (AI).
The new initiative will open the Post “to many published opinion articles from other newspapers across America, writers on Substack, and eventually nonprofessional writers,” according to the New York Times.
The official writers from other newspapers and Substack will be edited by a regular Post editor, while the so-called “non-professional” writers will reportedly first be edited by artificial intelligence.
The Post plans to get going with official writers by summer, with “[a] final phase allowing nonprofessionals to submit columns with help from an A.I. writing coach called Ember” to kick off in the fall.
scoop: The Washington Post is developing an A.I.-powered story editor called “Ember,” which would offer guidance like thishttps://t.co/7kG2HWCP1T pic.twitter.com/WecoVkgPhj
— Ben Mullin (@BenMullin) June 3, 2025
Why is the Post taking these steps? Because it’s been going broke for a while now.
“Post publisher Will Lewis painted a stark picture of the Post’s finances, revealing that the publication has lost $77 million over the last year and has been bleeding digital readers for several years,” the paper self-reported almost exactly a year ago.
A year later, Amazon owner Jeff Bezos is still “trying to turn around the news organization’s struggling business,” according to the Times.
“He has told confidants that he wants to broaden the publication’s reach beyond its traditional audience of coastal elites,” the Times notes.
The overall goal is to “appeal to readers who want more breadth than The Post’s current [extremely leftist] opinion section and more quality than social platforms like Reddit and X.”
The new writers and contributors will be featured on the Post’s website, but outside its official opinion section and outside its paywall.
Top Post executives believe, based on internal research, that the project, dubbed Ripple, could reach an estimated 38 million adult Americans.
Executives also suspect that “some” of the 38 million readers might be interested in submitting their own writing to the paper.
imho if you need this sort of help from an AI writing coach you should probably not be published by the washington post pic.twitter.com/GHpju5DeIY
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) June 3, 2025
All this comes amid a total internal revamp being led by Bezos.
“The Washington Post’s traditional opinion section has undergone a significant shift in recent months. Mr. Bezos decided shortly before the November election that The Post would no longer endorse a presidential candidate. That decision stopped the publication of the section’s endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris,” the Times notes.
The non-endorsement was announced by Post Publisher and Chief Executive William Lewis in an op-ed.
“The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election,” he wrote. “Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.”
“Our job at The Washington Post is to provide through the newsroom nonpartisan news for all Americans, and thought-provoking, reported views from our opinion team to help our readers make up their own minds. Most of all, our job as the newspaper of the capital city of the most important country in the world is to be independent. And that is what we are and will be,” he added.
What was unclear was who ordered the non-endorsement. Some said Lewis made the decision, while others pointed to Bezos. According to David Folkenflik of NPR, top Post opinion editor David Shipley suggested/implied “that Bezos ordered the decision and Lewis carried it out.”
Editor-at-Large Robert Kagan resigned after learning that the paper wouldn’t endorse Harris. According to Max Tani of Semafor, he and others at the Post were “furious” over the paper’s non-endorsement.
“If you don’t have the balls to own a newspaper, don’t,” one Post opinion employee told Tani.
Opinion staff at WaPo are furious about the paper’s endorsement decision. Several are contemplating what action to take, ranging from resigning, quitting the board, or a statement. “If you don’t have the balls to own a newspaper, don’t,” one Post opinion employee tells me.
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) October 25, 2024
After the election, Bezos then ordered the Post’s opinion writers to embrace “personal liberties and free markets.” This angered Shipley so much that he too resigned.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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