Washington Post plans layoffs to stem losses of hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years
The Washington Post is expected to announce significant layoffs in the newsroom and the business sides of the paper in the coming days, as part of an effort to end years of financial losses, according to three people with direct knowledge of the changes. But the cuts also appear to be aimed at something else: reorienting The Post’s coverage, states The New York Times.
The sports, local and international sections, states The Times, are preparing to take “a disproportionate share of the pain. At the same time, the paper’s video journalists, as well as reporters and editors focused on politics and national security — two of the paper’s signature coverage areas — are expected to become even more central to the company’s future.
The changes could sharply narrow the scope of The Post. Over the past century, the outlet evolved from a scrappy metro newspaper into a general interest national news powerhouse that cracked Watergate and covered far-flung countries as well as sports, fashion, dining and travel.
“The cuts are intended to direct The Post’s resources to topics that executives believe better align with the newsroom’s areas of expertise and reader interests, and in formats that people increasingly turn to for information, one of the people said. Executives devised their approach after studying the digital traffic to the organization’s coverage.
“The hope, the person said, is that the moves will help make the paper self-sustaining — a goal set long ago by its owner, Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder. The company has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years.
“The newsroom, including many editors, remains largely in the dark on the specifics of the staff reductions and the long-term plan for the organization. Last year, The Post completed a round of buyouts that trimmed the newsroom by dozens of journalists. In the months since, many of the journalists who remain have grown increasingly frustrated about the lack of clarity from Mr. Bezos and the paper’s publisher, Will Lewis.”
