The Washington Post will lay off “dozens” of workers in its business division amid ongoing financial struggles and an editorial exodus, former CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy reported Monday.
In what sources familiar with the matter reportedly described to Darcy as “deep” cuts, the Bezos-owned publication will purge dozens from its business side. Those expected firings follow a huge swath of their editorial stars jumping ship for other publications.
Star reporter Josh Dawsey announced his departure Monday as he moves on to The Wall Street Journal.
Who says you can’t go home? I am thrilled to join the WSJ next month after 7.5 years at the Washington Post. The Journal is a spectacular news organization where I began my career, and I’m grateful to be a small part of this exciting new chapter. (1/2)
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 6, 2025
Dawsey is joined in leaving, as Darcy notes, by at least six other high-profile departures. (Liberal Media Outlet Eats Its Own, And You Absolutely Love To See It)
The rocky start to 2025 is picking up right where 2024 left off for WaPo, as the paper lost a slew of other longtime staffers after they defected as a result of the editorial board’s decision not to endorse a Presidential candidate in the 2024 election.
That decision followed a massive shakeup in leadership after longtime executive editor Sally Buzbee stepped down in June. The saga of her replacement, complete with a full-scale mutiny by staffers, culminated in Bezos tapping former Wall Street Journal publisher Will Lewis to helm his outlet.
Lewis has been tasked with taking WaPo out of the red — the paper lost $77 million in 2023, Lewis told his staff in May.
WaPo also lost a quarter of a million subscribers after its non-endorsement, to compound what Bezos told staffers was already a loss of half their subscriber base between 2020 and 2023. “We are in a hole, and we have been for some time,” Lewis told staffers.
While the paper attempts to pivot to stop the bleeding — they introduced their WP Ventures project led by Krissah Thompson in December — their financial and editorial issues have evolved into a full-blown cultural problem.
“This newsroom has been fractured.” venerable WaPo columnist Sally Jenkins told colleagues through tears at a staff awards show, according to Darcy. “What I want for Christmas is, I want this place whole again,” Jenkins said as she cried with her coworkers, he added.
