‘Bloodbath’ on the Washington Post as roughly one-third of the employees is laid off by Jeff Bezos | EUROtoday

The Washington Post instructed staffers at the moment that it was transferring ahead with a sweeping spherical of layoffs that was a part of a “broad strategic reset” of the storied newspaper, which is able to embrace eliminating the sports activities desk, severely chopping again on its worldwide protection and restructuring its native information staff.

Though it was not instantly recognized precisely what number of staff will likely be impacted by the cuts, it had beforehand been reported that roughly 100 staffers from the newsroom might be laid off and as many as 300 staff from the broader firm would face terminations.

However, after emails have been despatched to staffers on Wednesday morning, it’s anticipated that roughly one-third of employees – about 800 staff in complete – will likely be laid off, with some staffers saying that this was a “bloodbath” on Wednesday.

“This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organizations,” the Post’s former govt editor Marty Baron mentioned Wednesday. “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.”

The announcement, which was made by the Post’s govt editor Matt Murray on Wednesday morning, got here after a “collective plea” from the newsroom to publicly urge the paper’s billionaire proprietor Jeff Bezos to reverse course on the anticipated downsizing. It would seem that the #SaveThePost marketing campaign fell on deaf ears.

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“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. 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 mentioned in a press release.

“The actions we are taking include a broad strategic reset with a significant staff reduction,” Murray declared throughout a morning name, including that this was mandatory to raised place the paper for the years forward.

“Today, the Washington Post is taking a number of actions across the company to secure our future,” he added.

During the decision, Murray famous that the Post was eliminating the publication’s sports activities staff, which had lengthy been an integral a part of the paper, although he did say some members of the desk would stay in a brand new part protecting the tradition of sports activities.

Murray additionally revealed that the paper could be “shrinking” its overseas information bureaus and drastically altering its native protection. The publication’s flagship podcast Post Reports may even be suspended amid this “strategic reset.”

Post staff have been instructed that they might be receiving emails later within the morning telling them whether or not they have been laid off or not, the paper’s human assets chief instructed the employees. He additionally famous that these impacted by the layoffs would obtain advantages via mid-April.

After experiencing sustained progress below Bezos after he bought the outlet over a decade in the past, the Amazon founder has seen the Post lose cash in recent times, resulting in the paper seeking to flip round its fortunes by shedding employees. Over 200 staff left by way of buyouts in 2023, adopted by one other spherical of buyouts final 12 months amid a conservative shift of the opinion part to enchantment to Donald Trump supporters.

The mixture of the opinion web page’s new right-leaning stance and Bezos spiking the editorial board’s deliberate 2024 presidential endorsement of Kamala Harris, nevertheless, additionally resulted within the paper shedding tons of of hundreds of paid subscribers. The Blue Origin founder, who is likely one of the wealthiest males on the earth, has been accused of cozying as much as Trump, additional eroding belief amongst left-leaning readers.

“Bezos is not trying to save The Washington Post. He’s trying to survive Donald Trump,” Glenn Kessler, the one-time fact-checker for the Post who took a buyout final 12 months amid the most recent employees exodus, wrote on his Substack this week.

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Meanwhile, with rumors swirling in current weeks that embattled Post CEO and writer Will Lewis could be implementing brutal layoffs in an effort to push the paper to profitability this 12 months, staffers started publicly interesting to Bezos to step in and halt the cuts.

In the tip, the tech billionaire remained silent and by no means responded to the letters despatched by the overseas information desk, native information staff or the paper’s White House reporters. Bezos did nevertheless, make time to personally greet Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth – who booted Post reporters from the Pentagon final 12 months – and present him round his Blue Origin manufacturing facility this week.

“These layoffs are not inevitable,” the Washington Post Guild mentioned in a press release. “A newsroom cannot be hollowed out without consequences for its credibility, its reach and its future.”

The paper’s union added that if Bezos was “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.”

Some staff who came upon that they have been let go on Wednesday additionally sounded off publicly concerning the layoffs – and didn’t mince phrases.

“I’m among the hundreds of people laid off by The Post. This comes six months after hearing in a national meeting that race coverage drives subscriptions,” race and ethnicity reporter Emmanuel Felton tweeted. “This wasn’t a financial decision, it was an ideological one.”

The Post’s Amazon beat reporter Caroline O’Donovan additionally confirmed that she was “out, along with just a ton of the best in the biz. Horrible.”

“Laid off from the Washington Post, along with the entire roster of Middle East correspondents and our editors,” Cairo bureau chief Claire Parker added. “Hard to understand the logic. But I am grateful for my incredible colleagues, whose grit and dedication to the reporting and each other I will miss dearly.”

In her article concerning the layoffs on the Washington Postformer Post political reporter Ashley Parker wrote for The Atlantic that “we’re witnessing a murder” and Bezos and Lewis “are embarking on the latest step of their plan to kill everything that makes the paper special.”