Two more prominent Washington Post staffers are leaving the paper.
Dave Jorgenson, who has been dubbed WaPo’s “TikTok Guy” and has become the face of the outlet’s TikTok and YouTube accounts in recent years, and Krissah Thompson, head of its recently launched WP Ventures that aims to be a “Third Newsroom” focused on stories that will resonate with social media users, are both exiting the paper, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray sent a staff memo on Tuesday, saying Thompson was leaving the paper at the end of July. And Jorgenson, in a feature in the Times, said he is leaving the paper next month to focus on his own YouTube channel, Local News International; that account, the Times said, aims to blend “the topical wit of ‘The Daily Show With Jon Stewart’ with the surreal antics of Ron Burgundy” from “Anchorman.”
Jorgenson will be joined by two ex-WaPo co-workers: Micah Gelman, who was the Post’s director of video; and Lauren Saks, who was Gelman’s “former deputy,” the Times reported. On TikTok, which Jorgenson has spearheaded for WaPo since 2019, the outlet has nearly 2 million subscribers, while also having more than 3 million subscribers across two YouTube accounts. He has used his satirical style to sometimes go after his employer, like last year, when he mocked WaPo owner Jeff Bezos for spiking the editorial board’s decision to endorse Kamala Harris.
“The reason I didn’t do this three years ago or four years ago is that there was a fear of failure,” Jorgenson told The Times. “But I’m not as scared of failing anymore.”
Thompson, meanwhile, has led WP Ventures for the paper after having previously been its managing editor of Diversity and Inclusion. She has been with the paper for more than 24 years and has worked as both a writer and editor. WP Ventures, her most recent project, was created last year to focus on social-friendly stories.
Their exits come a day after columnist Jonathan Capehart accepted a buyout to leave the paper. Several other columnists and reporters have left WaPo in the past few months, after Bezos said the paper’s opinion section would focus on “two pillars”: personal liberties and free markets.
A person familiar with the newsroom told TheWrap on Monday it would not be surprising to see more people leave the paper this week, as it is offering buyouts to those who do not “feel aligned” with the paper’s “reinvention” through the end of the month.
