The Washington Post announced widespread layoffs on Wednesday, affecting multiple parts of the newsroom, the latest round off job losses at the nearly 150-year-old newspaper.
The paper’s staff was instructed to “stay home today” and told during a morning virtual meeting about “significant actions,” including shutting down almost the entire Sports section, closing the Books section, canceling its flagship Post Reports political podcast, slashing international reporting, “restructuring” the Metro desk and “significantly [reducing] the number of editors.
According to the Columbia Journalism Review, Caroline O’Donovan, a reporter covering Amazon, was laid off.
Editor-in-chief Matt Murray said the layoffs are part of a “broad strategic reset.”
Roughly 33% of the paper’s staff is being cut, according to reports.
One employee told The Guardian that the newsroom had been on edge for weeks before Wednesday’s mornings announcement.
“It’s an absolute bloodbath,” the employee said.
“The Washington Post is taking a number of difficult but decisive actions today for our future, in what amounts to a significant restructuring across the company,” a Post spokesperson said in a statement.
“These steps are designed to strengthen our footing and sharpen our focus on delivering the distinctive journalism that sets The Post apart and, most importantly, engages our customers.”
The Washington Post Guild said the paper has cut about 400 jobs in the last three years — between buyouts and layoffs — and slammed owner Jeff Bezos.
If he is “no longer willing to invest in the mission that has defined this paper for generations and serve the millions who depend on Post journalism, then The Post deserves a steward that will,” the guild said.
Many staffers blame Bezos for the paper’s supposed financial strain. Hundreds of thousands canceled their subscriptions after Bezos pulled a Kamala Harris endorsement from the opinion section in 2024, according to CJR.
“This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organizations,” Marty Baron, the former executive editor of the Post, said in a statement. “The Washington Post’s ambitions will be sharply diminished, its talented and brave staff will be further depleted, and the public will be denied the ground-level, fact-based reporting in our communities and around the world that is needed more than ever.”
