Staffers at The Washington Post have started to post messages on social media to “Save The Post,” amid fears that the Jeff Bezos-owned publication is on the cusp of implementing massive layoffs.
A number of foreign correspondents posted messages on Monday, as speculation swirled that the international coverage will bear a substantial amount of cuts.
A sample: Correspondent Yeganeh Torbati wrote on X, “@jeffbezos I cover Iran for @washingtonpost. Since June, I’ve reported on US/Israeli strikes, a dire water crisis, state coercion of the private sector, and now, horrific govt violence against protesters. I want nothing more than to keep doing this important work.” Correspondent Loveday Morris, who covers the Middle East, wrote, “Today a source warned me that my reporting lines could have me killed. Just an average day as a foreign correspondent. I can’t count the number of times I’ve come under fire or had windows rattle from blasts. Our international staff risk so much to bring home news.”
The New York Times reported that foreign correspondents sent a letter to Bezos, urging him to retain the coverage.
A Post spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
“We know what happens when newspapers slash their international sections: they lose reach and lose relevance,” the correspondents wrote. “…The newsroom depends on our authority, cultivated through face-to-face source meetings around the world — work that simply cannot be replicated from Washington.”
There also has been concern about the sports staff at the Post, after a memo, obtained by Semafor, went out from Managing Editor Kimi Yoshino informing them that a contingent would not be sent to cover the Winter Olympics next month. The Times reported on Monday that the decision was reversed and a smaller contingent would be sent.
The Post has already gone through multiple rounds of job cuts and buyouts in recent years, a reversal from years of growth after Bezos bought the publication in 2013. The Post suffered from a loss of subscribers following Bezos’ decision to nix an endorsement in the 2024 presidential race. He later shifted the strategy of the opinion pages, leading to an exodus and editors and columnists. The Amazon founder said that the opinion content would focus on the “defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.”
“We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others,” Bezos wrote.
English (US) ·