The Washington Post lays off a third of its staff
The cuts affected nearly all corners of the newsroom and include the closures of the sports and books desks and several foreign bureaus
The Washington Post laid off employees across “nearly all news departments” Wednesday as part of a major newsroom restructuring.
Executive editor Matt Murray broke the news to staff in a morning Zoom call. The cuts include the elimination of the sports and books desks in their current form, the restructuring (and reduction) of the metro desk and the closure of several foreign bureaus. “Post Reports,” the paper’s flagship daily podcast, will also stop production.
Roughly a third of Post employees were laid off, including more than 300 of the 800-person newsroom, CNN and The New York Times reported. The layoffs mark the most extensive cuts at the Post in years and follow a period of sustained financial losses, leadership turnover and controversial editorial decisions.
Related stories
Related Knowledge Center: Washington Post mortem
The Washington Post is shedding both staff and subscribers — but making friends in the White House — as its owner, Jeff Bezos, remakes its opinion pages and lops off major areas of coverage.
Related Knowledge Center: State of the business model
The traditional journalism business model has long since collapsed, and news organizations have shrunk or disappeared entirely. While a number of promising experiments are under way, the public has not shown a willingness to buy what news organizations are selling.
Related Knowledge Center: Inside the newsroom
As newsrooms struggle with rickety business models and precarious finances — as well as new technologies — they are deploying an array of editorial responses.
The Times and its critics | Washington Post mortem