Media Monday: The Will Lewis Chernobyl Moment

Summary of Media Monday: The Will Lewis Chernobyl Moment

by Puck | Audacy

20m•February 9, 2026
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Overview of Media Monday: The Will Lewis Chernobyl Moment

This episode of The Powers That Be Daily (Puck) — Media Monday with Peter Hamby and John Kelly — examines last week’s Washington Post layoffs (about one-third of editorial staff) and whether current leadership can rescue the paper. The hosts place the cuts in the broader context of structural declines across U.S. news media, management-labor friction, and a fraught billionaire-owner relationship. They also profile Disney’s incoming CEO Josh DeMauro, outlining the strategic, financial, and cultural challenges he inherits.

Key themes & main takeaways

  • The Washington Post’s large layoffs were painful but, in the hosts’ view, largely inevitable given long-term business realities for many legacy papers.
  • Management mistakes (notably around Will Lewis and decisions tied to owner Jeff Bezos) and a toxic management-labor relationship accelerated the crisis and undermined credibility.
  • The Post is often mistakenly compared with the New York Times; economically and structurally the two are very different.
  • Disney’s new CEO, Josh DeMauro, is a finance/operations executive who’ll be expected to make structural moves to lift the stock, potentially via asset restructurings, licensing, or changes to ESPN/linear assets.

Washington Post: what happened and why

  • The episode was recorded before Will Lewis stepped down (hosts note the recording timing), but the conversation still reflects on his role.
  • Event: Roughly one-third of the Washington Post newsroom was laid off in a major reduction.
  • Host diagnosis:
    • Structural industry pressures: Post-2016/Trump-era growth was a “sugar high” tied to political news cycles; many outlets that rose during that period (BuzzFeed News, etc.) have since struggled.
    • Legacy-costs and misaligned scale: The Post is better described as a modest national digital-first company with significant legacy cost structures—not a peer to the NYT in economics.
    • Product and audience mismatch: Some longstanding Post sections (books, foreign affairs, sports) were not driving subscriber growth; cuts targeted low-return areas.
    • Management-labor breakdown: Deep distrust between staff and leadership intensified the situation, making transitions more damaging.
    • Bezos endorsement episode: The controversial backtracking on a political endorsement (Kamala Harris) damaged internal credibility and led some subscribers to cancel, which the hosts argue materially hurt revenue.
  • Cultural commentary: The hosts criticize sentimental reactions that treat the Post as if it still occupies the economic position of a bygone era, and argue the industry must face hard business choices.

Notable lines & framing

  • “This was inevitable” — a central, repeated assessment about the Post’s contraction.
  • “You live by the billionaire, you die by the billionaire” — on Jeff Bezos’s outsized influence and the risks of billionaire ownership.
  • “This was not murder… this was a business going through an economic tragedy” — reframing the layoffs as an economic correction rather than a moral crime.
  • Comparison: NYT vs Post likened to “Google and Yahoo” — similar perception but wildly different economics.

Disney: who is Josh DeMauro and what he’s inheriting

  • Background: DeMauro is a finance/operations executive with deep park experience (Georgetown grad, operations-focused, seen as a Wall Street-friendly pick).
  • Three core strategic challenges highlighted:
    1. Content/IP fatigue and monetization: Disney’s franchises are less potent in driving growth; parks now account for a large share of profits and may be a focus for IP monetization.
    2. Streaming maturation: Streaming has shifted from a hyper-growth opportunity to a more mature business; Disney needs new answers to reignite growth.
    3. Linear assets and ESPN: Potential outcomes include restructuring/spinning ESPN or other linear assets, licensing content more broadly, and rethinking the conglomerate’s asset mix.
  • Other pressures: AI (OpenAI licensing deal), continued theatrical uncertainty, the need to move stock price and investor expectations, and managing Bob Iger’s eventual return/timeline.
  • Strategic signals: Hiring a non–content-first CEO suggests willingness to pursue financial/portfolio engineering (licensing, spin-offs, partnerships) rather than pure content bets.

What to watch next (actionable items)

  • For the Washington Post:
    • Leadership fallout and clarifying Bezos’s ongoing role and strategy.
    • Whether the Post doubles down on core digital strengths (political/national coverage) and monetizes differently.
    • Labor relations and newsroom morale/rebuilding; who is retained vs. what capabilities are lost.
    • Subscriber trends/renewals after the endorsement cancellations and layoffs.
  • For Disney:
    • Official strategic moves from DeMauro: asset sales, spin-offs (ESPN?), new licensing deals, or broader restructuring.
    • How Disney balances parks/profits versus streaming investment.
    • Impacts of the OpenAI deal and any AI-driven commercialization strategies.

Short context note

  • The hosts recorded this conversation before Will Lewis resigned; the episode’s analysis was not altered after that development but acknowledges the timing.

Bottom line

The episode frames the Post’s layoffs as the painful correction of a legacy institution that over-extended during a transient political-news boom. Problems are both economic and managerial. At Disney, leadership change signals a pivot from creative-first answers to portfolio and financial fixes—DeMauro will be judged on whether he can reset strategy, monetize IP differently, and unlock shareholder value.