Washington Post begins sweeping layoffs as it sharply scales back news coverage

The Washington Post is laying off a third of its workers across all departments, scaling back foreign coverage and shutting down some sections of the paper.

Executive editor Matt Murray announced the layoffs during a Zoom call with employees on Wednesday. The Post will restructure its local news department and editing staff, close its books department, and shrink the number of journalists it stations overseas, he told staffers. 

Barry Svrluga, a sports columnist at the Post, said on social media that the media outlet will also close its sports department in its “current form,” citing comments by Murray during Wednesday’s call. 

In a letter to the newsroom shared with CBS News, Murray wrote that the restructuring plans are intended to “place The Washington Post on a stronger footing” and better position the paper in a “rapidly changing era of new technologies and evolving user habits.”

Murrary also acknowledged the financial challenges the paper, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has faced after “multiple rounds of cost cuts and buyouts.”

WaPo “dramatically diminished,” former editor says

Martin Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post from 2013 to 2021, told CBS News the cuts will seriously weaken the paper’s ability to cover news.

“The scope of the coverage is going to be dramatically diminished,” he said. “That’s sad because the newspaper is setting its ambitions low, rather than setting its ambitions high.”

Baron criticized the Post’s leadership for some of its editorial decisions, including a controversial move not to endorse a presidential candidate in the days before the 2024 national election, which he said hurt the paper’s reputation. 

Baron also directed blame at Bezos for prioritizing his business goals over the paper’s welfare.

“He’s not the same person who was there when I was there,” Baron said of Bezos. “He let his business interests get in the way of his management of the Post.” 

A spokesperson for the newspaper didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the scale of the job cuts or confirm the size of its workforce. 

Pleading with Bezos

The announcement follows days of speculation that the company was planning to make cuts to its foreign, sports and local desks.

Amid media reports about the planned layoffs, some Washington Post reporters last month sent letters to owner Jeff Bezos pleading with the billionaire and Amazon founder not to cut any jobs. 

“Cutting this deeply sourced, battle-hardened and tireless staff would hinder The Post’s ability to respond to the biggest news developments on the horizon,” the Post’s foreign correspondents said in their letter, which was posted on social media. 

“Don’t eliminate our jobs,” reporters from the Post’s local desk said in their missive to Bezos. “Keep the Washington Post a place that covers Washington.”

Bezos bought The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million amid a declining readership and other budgetary challenges. 

At the time, he promised employees that the paper would follow in the footsteps of its late publisher, Katharine Graham, in pursuing the truth and following important stories, “no matter the cost.”