Washington Post TikTok Star Dave Jorgenson Is Going Solo

Dave Jorgenson, the face of The Washington Post on the paper’s TikTok account and its YouTube channel, is leaving the newspaper after eight years to launch his own video news company — a move that represents both a bet on his personal brand and another blow to a newsroom that’s pretty much in a constant state of flux these days.

“Dear Jeff Bezos,” Jorgenson says, addressing the owner of the newspaper, in a voiceover for a minute-long video he posted to YouTube on Tuesday. “If you’re reading this, you already know. I’m leaving The Washington Post and starting my own company.”

From TikTok star to startup founder

Jorgenson, who helped bring the Post into the Gen Z era with his sketch-driven TikToks and short explainers about politics, business, and culture, announced that he’s stepping away from the paper to launch Local News International, a new venture that aims to mix news and comedy in the style of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. The idea is to do more of what he made a name for himself for at the Post — meeting audiences where they are, and continuing to do so with wit as well as an editorial voice that feels human. This time, without the cachet (and baggage) of a 147-year-old news institution behind him.

“I think we’re well positioned to reach an audience that can’t make sense of the current news landscape,” Jorgenson told me when I reached him Tuesday afternoon. “I’m often reminded — from user comments — that I’m their first source to any given news story. For that reason, I take my news format of being silly but informative very seriously.”

Importantly, he’s not going to be doing this alone, either. He’s bringing two colleagues with him: Micah Gelman, the Post’s former head of video (Jorgenson’s former boss), and Lauren Saks, his deputy. Both are now co-founders at LNI Media, where they’ll work on brand partnerships and overall strategy while Jorgenson focuses on content.

It goes without saying: This is also the latest blow to the Post, where CEO Will Lewis’ vision and a sweeping round of buyouts has triggered high-profile departures — including not just Jorgenson, but also most recently WP Ventures head Krissah Thompson. Jorgenson, in fact, described the paper’s strategy as basically directionless in an interview with The New York Times, saying, “I’m just not convinced they have the best road map right now.”

That critique comes at a time when the Post is already facing significant challenges — including everything from subscription losses to internal friction over editorial priorities. As Pamela Alma Weymouth, granddaughter of the legendary former publisher Katharine Graham, recently wrote in The Nation, “If The Washington Post goes dark under Bezos, then we lose more than a legend. We lose the very thing that makes America a democracy.”

In many ways, Jorgenson has been the most visible avatar of the Post’s ongoing modernization for the last several years. As I wrote for Forbes back in 2021, the paper celebrated hitting 1 million TikTok followers at that time, thanks largely to Jorgenson’s output that included producing up to 10 TikToks a week combining hard news with absurdist humor. That pace helped the paper build what, to some observers, felt like a surprising degree of cultural relevance on platforms otherwise dominated by things like influencers and dance trends.

Now, he’s hoping the audience will follow him to Local News International.

“I’m really excited to work with brands that fit our ethos,” Jorgenson told me. “Doing this with people I trust — Lauren and Micah — makes that part even more exciting. They can take the wheel there while I focus on the content.”

Jorgenson’s personal TikTok and YouTube followings are still relatively small – roughly 92,000 and 100,000, respectively – compared to The Washington Post’s millions. But his bet is clear: That in a fractured media world, personality, tone, and trust matter more than legacy or even scale.