Ezra Klein has announced that he will leave The Washington Post, joining a variety of high-profile journalists that have left mainstream media to launch their own ventures.
Klein confirmed his move in a tweet Tuesday morning. Doubt was cast on his future at the Post starting with a report in December from Michael Calderone of The Huffington Post, which stated that Klein was speaking with investors about leaving the newspaper to start a separate media outlet.
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The move appeared all the more likely after the New York Times reported that Klein's proposal for a new venture at the Post included an eight-figure budget, and was consequently rejected by the paper's publisher and its owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Thanks to the @WashingtonPost for five incredible years. An amazing newsroom and an amazing institution.
— Ezra Klein (@ezraklein) January 21, 2014
Melissa Bell and Dylan Matthews are also leaving The Washington Post to join Klein in the new venture.
In a memo from the Post that originally appeared on Poynter and was later acquired by Mashable, digital managing editor Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, deputy business editor David Cho and business editor Greg Schneider lauded Klein's achievements, noting that his ambitions had grown beyond his position at the newspaper.
When Ezra joined us in 2009, he was a wunderkind blogger with brash confidence and a burning desire to write a column in the print newspaper. As he leaves us, Ezra is still a brash wunderkind, but now his burning desire has a grander scope: He is looking to start his own news organization, an ambition that befits someone with uncommon gifts of perception and analysis. Ezra’s passion and drive will be missed, but we will take pride in watching him chart out his new venture.
Wonkblog, the policy-focused vertical that Klein oversaw, will continue to reside with the Post, according to economic policy correspondent Jim Tankersley.
Important programming note: @Wonkblog isn't going anywhere. #FF, and stay tuned for relaunch details.
— Jim Tankersley (@jimtankersley) January 21, 2014
The departure of Klein, Bell and Matthews for a new privately funded venture adds to the recent shift by big-name journalists to media entrepreneurs. Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg left All Things D to start Re/code; Glenn Greenwald stepped away from The Guardian for First Look Media; and Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Beck continue to operate their own private media entities.
Klein's exit and the tone of the memo underscore the growing reality that the profile and media power of some journalists are beginning to outgrow their value to the media companies that fostered their development.
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