WASHINGTON (AP) — The Washington Post is ending 80 years of being led by the Graham family with the departure of Publisher Katharine Weymouth.
The newspaper said Tuesday that Weymouth, the granddaughter of longtime Washington Post Co. CEO Katharine Graham, is stepping down. She will be replaced by Frederick Ryan, who previously ran the political website and newspaper Politico.
Weymouth announced Tuesday that she will leave the Post after serving for 17 years in various roles. She has been publisher for seven years.
“This is just the beginning of a wonderful new chapter for The Post,” she said in a statement.
The change follows the sale of the publication last year to Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos for $250 million. On Tuesday, Bezos announced the appointment of Ryan as the new publisher.
Ryan had served as president and CEO of Politico since its inception in 2007. In the 1980s, Ryan was chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan.
In a statement, Ryan called the Post a “crown jewel” of journalistic values.
Politico, which is based in Arlington, Va., was launched by two former Washington Post reporters, John Harris and Jim VandeHei, in January 2007. It is known for hard-hitting, sometimes irreverent reporting on campaigns, rhetoric and scandal, and is one of The Washington Post’s strongest competitors.
Weymouth’s great-grandfather, Eugene Meyer, bought the Post at a bankruptcy auction in 1933. Meyer’s daughter, Katharine Graham, oversaw the paper through some of its most important stories, including the Watergate scandal.
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