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# “Upstarts” move to fill void created by Washington Post layoffs
- URL: https://capitolcommunicator.com/local-news-upstarts-move-to-fill-void-created-by-washington-post-layoffs/
- Published: 2026-03-11T20:37:19.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-12T22:06:24.000Z
- Author: Capitol Communicator
- Tags: Media, Insights, #wp-top-right-sponsored, #Import 2026-10-08 18:56

**When leadership at The Washington Post laid off** [**more than 300 journalists**](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/business/media/washington-post-layoffs.html?ref=capitolcommunicator.com)[**last month**](https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/washington-post-layoffs-disproportionately-affected-union-members-of-color-preliminary-guild-data-shows/?ref=capitolcommunicator.com)**,** [Post Local](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/?ref=capitolcommunicator.com) was among the hardest-hit sections, reports [Nieman Lab](https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/with-washington-post-local-diminished-other-news-sites-step-up-their-d-c-coverage/?ref=capitolcommunicator.com).

Successive rounds of cuts, continued Nieman Lab, “had already shrunk the section down to around 40 reporters and editors. (In the early 2000s, the metro department had around 200 journalists.) But the latest layoffs left the section with around a dozen journalists, a severe blow to an institution that had remained home to some of D.C.’s most impactful local reporting. Cuts to other sections, like arts and sports, also diminished local coverage. Executive editor Matt Murray told remaining staffers, “We’re not a paper of record; there’s no such thing anymore in today’s world,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

“Almost immediately, local news upstarts in D.C. and just beyond announced expansions that will attempt to fill parts of the new coverage void, including The 51st, City Cast, Axios, and The Baltimore Banner. The journalists at these organizations also have some of the clearest perspective about the magnitude of reporting power the city has lost.

“D.C. is no news desert; these expanding outlets are just a few of the orgs that have carved out local news niches in the metro area of six million and city of 700,000\. The city’s Black newspaper, The Washington Informer, has published for more than 60 years; El Tiempo Latino has provided local Spanish-language news since 1991\. More recent entries include Ethiopique, founded in 2022, which provides Amharic-language reporting for the DMV area’s large Ethiopian community. The alt-weekly Washington City Paper reportedly offered to buy the Post’s local and sports sections before the layoffs. Scott Brodbeck owns and operates for-profit local news websites in three Northern Virginia suburbs.”