Mass layoffs at the Washington Post, Bezos empties the editorial offices to “survive” Trump?

In an email sent to staff, executive director Matt Murray and human resources manager Wayne Connell have invited employees to “stay home for the day”but requesting participation in a Zoom meeting at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. “The actions we are taking include a broad strategic reset with significant staff cuts,” Murray said.

According to internal sources, the planned measures include the almost total closure of the Sports sectioneliminating the Books section and canceling the daily Post Reports podcast.

One of the heaviest cuts concerns the reorganization of the Metro editorial teamwhich covers Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. International coverage will also be significantly scaled back, although some foreign editorial offices will remain operational.

The layoffs had been expected for weeks, especially after management had communicated internally its intention not to send journalists to this month’s Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. A decision that has sparked quite a bit of criticism, so much so that, NBC News reports, with a partial backtracking it is now planned to send four journalists.

Publisher Will Lewis has spoken privately about the need to return the Post to profitability, concentrating investments on politics and a few other strategic areasinstead reducing sectors such as sports and foreign affairs. This prospect prompted several teams of journalists to write letters to owner Jeff Bezos, asking him not to dismantle the editorial team.

In a letter obtained by CNN, signed by bureau chief Matt Viser and seven other White House reporters, the journalists warn that the newspaper will not be able to maintain its standards of excellence if other areas of the newspaper are significantly affected. “If the plan is to reorient the newspaper almost exclusively on politics – we read – we want to underline how much our work depends on collaboration with the foreign, sports and local editorial teams. If one part is weakened, we will all suffer”.

One year ago Bezos had already outlined a new vision for the historic Opinions section, promoting libertarian principles such as the free market and individual freedoms, a choice that led to the resignation of manager David Shipley. The turning point came a few months after the decision to cancel an editorial endorsing Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 elections, causing a wave of cancellations among season ticket holders.

Some current journalists ed former employees attribute the drastic changes to Bezos’ attempts not to conflict with President Donald Trumpconsidering the complex relationships between the Trump administration and Amazon. “Bezos isn’t trying to save the Washington Post, he’s trying to outlast Donald Trump,” wrote former fact-checker Glenn Kessler in a recent column.

Even more former director Marty Baron’s harsh commentretired in 2021: “This is one of the darkest days in the history of one of the largest news organizations in the world.” Baron acknowledged the existence of serious economic problems, but added that “the Post’s difficulties have been decisively exacerbated by poor decisions made at the highest levels.”

“You cannot dismantle a newsroom without consequences for its credibility, its influence and its future,” the Post Guild, the newspaper’s union, said in a statement. “In the past three years alone, the Post’s staff has shrunk by approximately 400 people. Continuing to lay off staff will only weaken the paper, alienate readers and the Post’s mission: to hold power to account, without fear or prejudice, and to provide essential information to communities across the region, the country and the world.”