Washington Post Hit With Multiple Controversies

A series of controversies hit The Washington Post (Lean Left bias) in recent weeks.

The Post's policies came under scrutiny after a jury found that Amber Heard defamed Johnny Depp in a 2018 Post op-ed detailing her alleged experiences with abuse. It was also revealed during the Depp-Heard trial that the American Civil Liberties Union (Lean Left bias) wrote the op-ed. Then, Post reporter Taylor Lorenz was accused of falsely claiming she reached out to sources for a story she wrote on the Depp-Heard trial. The Post stealth-edited her story to remove the claim, before later adding an editor's note admitting that Lorenz's claim was incorrect and that the stealth-edit violated its corrections policy.

And finally, Post reporter Dave Weigel was suspended after retweeting a post that said "Every girl is bi. You just have to figure out if it's polar or sexual." Fellow Post reporter Felicia Sonmez shared Weigel's post, and said sarcastically that it's "Fantastic to work at a news outlet where retweets like this are allowed!"

Sources across the spectrum highlighted the controversies and the Post's response. Coverage from the right focused more on the Lorenz story and the Heard op-ed, and framed the Post as biased and irresponsible. Reports from left- and center-rated sources focused more on Weigel's tweet and the internal fallout; few covered the Lorenz story or the Heard op-ed like many right-rated sources did.