Following the mass layoffs at The Washington Post, several staffers and journalists shared emotional reactions online.
The Washington Post has begun one of the most sweeping newsroom layoffs, cutting about one-third of its staff as part of a “strategic reset” amid financial challenges, the company announced Wednesday.
Following the massive layoffs at The Washington Post, several staffers and journalists shared emotional reactions online. (Photo by Oliver Contreras/AFP) (AFP)Journalists affected by the layoffs took to social media to express their raw reactions to the layoffs, talking about “sadness” and “anger.”
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The layoffs will affect all editorial divisions, including sports, books, international coverage, local (metro) coverage and its Post Report podcast, the agency said.
Employees are talking on social mediaMany WaPo staffers who have been laid off have taken to online to vent their frustrations. Sam Fortier, a Washington Post staff writer, shared a post on X with a video of him listening to executive editor Matt Murray announce the closing of sections on an internal Zoom call.
He wrote, “I am part of the mass layoffs at The Washington Post. I am saddened and outraged. We all want to continue working. But for now, I want to document a reality of being in journalism today.”
Another staffer, the Washington Post’s Ukraine correspondent, Lizzy Johnson, wrote in X, “The Washington Post abandoned me in the middle of a war zone. I have no words. I am devastated.”
He also shared an earlier post of him in a car, reported from Kiev, “without electricity, heat or running water. (Again.).”
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Former executive editor Marty Barron also responded to the layoffs, saying the organization’s “ambitions will be drastically curtailed” by the decision. WaPo’s “talented and courageous staff will be further depleted, and the public will be deprived of the ground-level, fact-based reporting our communities and around the world need more than ever,” Barron said.
A staffer laid off from the Metro department told WSIU that the desk will have only a dozen reporters. “It’s down from over 40,” the worker said.
The mass layoffs are being described as “bloodbaths”.”Our newsroom is changing dramatically,” Murray said on an internal Zoom call. Pruning removes entire departments and reduces coverage capacity. Newsrooms are dramatically reducing foreign reporting and local accountability beats.
According to their social media posts, the paper has fired every member of its Middle East desk. Additionally, Carolyn O’Donovan, a writer covering Amazon, Bezos’ main source of wealth, was also let go.
WSIU reports that the Post now seems best suited to readers interested in topics related to the US government, with a focus on American politics and national security.
In a memo to staff, Murray also said the daily would cover business, science, culture, health and other topics such as “journalism that empowers people to take action from advice to wellness.”
Barron called the layoffs “the darkest day in the history of one of the world’s greatest news organizations.”
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