Legacy News Outlet Tells Hundreds To Work From Home On Wednesday, Cuts 300 Jobs In Zoom Meeting

The Washington Post cut nearly one-third of its workforce on Wednesday, terminating some 300 employees and axing several editorial sections entirely.

According to several reports detailing the situation, executive editor Matt Murray and human resources director Wayne Connell informed employees that they were to work from home on Wednesday and be on hand to attend a Zoom webinar where they’d be informed of “some significant actions across the company.”

The “significant actions” mentioned appear to be the abrupt termination of the current sports section, the books section, and the Post Reports podcast — along with hundreds of employees across several different sections.

Several employees shared the news directly on X.

Correspondent Yeganeh Torbati posted, “I’m heartbroken to announce that I’ve been laid off from my position at The Washington Post. Working at this newspaper, and especially being a foreign correspondent covering Iran and Turkey over the last few short months, was a dream come true for me.”

Sports columnist Barry Svrluga announced the demise of his own section: “‘First, we will be closing the Sports department in its current form.’ — Matt Murray, editor of the Post.”

“Some personal news: I’m among today’s @washingtonpost layoffs. It was a dream 11-year run as an investigative reporter focused on sports—making billionaires tremble (or at least mildly annoying them and their lawyers),” said sports investigative reporter Will Hobson.

Caroline O’Donovan, Amazon beat reporter: “I’m out, along with just a ton of the best in the biz. Horrible.”

“I’m among the hundreds of people laid off by The Post,” race and ethnicity reporter Emmanuel Felton claimed that the move was “ideological” because his job had previously been labeled a boon for the outlet. “This comes six months after hearing in a national meeting that race coverage drives subscriptions. This wasn’t a financial decision, it was an ideological one.”

Tech columnist Geoffrey Fowler added, “After 8 years writing the tech column @washingtonpost, I am among folks who were laid off today. I’m grateful for the stories I got to tell and the impact we made on privacy, sustainability & AI.”

Critics of the move complained that the cuts were a bridge too far.

Retired Washington Post editor Robert McCartney added, “Apparently The Post has laid off every reporter and editor covering the Middle East. Jerusalem bureau closed. Also Ukraine bureau closed.”

“The @WashPost has now laid off its Asia editor, its New Delhi bureau chief, its Sydney bureau chief, its Cairo bureau chief, the entire Middle East reporting team, China correspondents, Iran correspondents, Turkey correspondents, and many more. The world is becoming less America-centric by the minute while the United States is becoming more America-centric than ever. It is just a depressing yet somehow perfect summation of our current moment that one of the most important newspapers in the history of the country — one that has actually shaped the history of the United States – doesn’t think reporting on the world is of any use anymore. What an utterly perfect encapsulation of where we have arrived,” Evan Feigenbaum posted.

But some argued that the cuts were the obvious next step, and people should have seen them coming.

“Over the last decade at the Washington Post: — A number of major corrections and journalistic scandals. —Major intra-newsroom drama with reporters threatening to sue the paper. — Declining circulation and losing lots of money. Stop acting like the layoffs are shocking,” Mark Hemingway posted.

Clay Travis added, “The Washington Post made its business contingent on far left wing subscribers who hated Trump & when Bezos became embarrassed by the far left wing product that created, he tried to fix it by moving closer to the center. But the Post’s subscribers revolted, crushing the business.”

“The business lesson here is newspaper subscribers at the WaPo and New York Times don’t want centrist, fair journalism, they want to be told their political opponents are evil Nazis and they are the heroic good guys. That narrative must dominate all coverage,” he added.