Fired in a battle zone: “I’m devastated.” The protests of the journalists of the «Washington Post» | EUROtoday

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“I just got fired from the Washington Post in the middle of a war zone. I am speechless. I am devastated”. Lizzie Johnsona correspondent in Ukraine, entrusted the phrase about the cuts to the newspaper to X. Johnson had described her daily life in a country in conflict a few weeks earlier: no electricity, no water, no heating, she warms herself in the car and takes notes in pencil because “the ink freezes”, illuminated by the headlamp.

Then there is Sabrina MalhiJohnson’s colleague and specialist in child and maternal health, who also wrote on

The attack on the Post

The newspaper owned by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, started a reorganization which cuts around a third of the staff, with hundreds of positions affected and over 300 journalists affected. The heaviest reductions concern foreign, local news, editing and sport, as well as closures and contractions of products and sections, such as the books area.

The reactions of esters

X is invaded by messages from the newspaper’s journalists. Like that of Claire Parkerbureau chief in Cairo (Egypt): «Fired… together with the entire group of Middle East correspondents and our editors. It’s difficult to understand the logic.” His post was picked up by several international newspapers. Anna Fifield announced that she has been fired as the Post’s Asia editortalking about privilege and gratitude towards colleagues. From India, Pranshu Verma wrote that he was “heartbroken” (“heartbroken”) for the dismissal and “gutted” (“destroyed”) for the various colleagues affected.

Whoever lined Bezos’ firm fired

In the circulate of reactions, that of stands out Caroline O’Donovanwho wrote about being fired “from her Amazon coverage job” for the Washington Post. Among these fired who’ve chosen to say so publicly can be Tashan Reedwhich on X talked about “incredibly sad day” not solely for individuals who lose their jobs, however for the readers and for what the newspaper represents. Meanwhile, between one tweet and one other, the day is punctuated by emails and notifications, with departments dismantled and protection diminished.