Fundraisers Emerge for Laid-Off Washington Post Workers
After recent layoffs at the Washington Post, a GoFundMe campaign has gained traction, raising over $700,000 by Monday morning, according to Business Insider.
Rachel Siegel, a member of the newsroom union, played a key role in organizing this effort. Additionally, a separate GoFundMe page aimed at the publication’s international staff has brought in approximately $200,000 from around 2,100 donations. This fundraiser was spearheaded by the Post’s Tokyo bureau chief, Michelle Lee, to support non-union international employees who were laid off.
In a statement, billionaire owner Jeff Bezos acknowledged the Post’s journalistic mission and emphasized the significance of reader engagement, noting that audience data offers guidance on what content is most valuable.
Siegel’s fundraiser has pulled in about $522,061, while the international fundraising effort has reached $202,589. Both initiatives demonstrate the resilience and courage of newspaper workers navigating these challenging times.
Over the last few days, the paper’s publisher, Will Lewis, announced his departure, as reported by the Associated Press. Notably, neither Lewis nor Bezos attended the staff meeting where the layoffs were revealed. The scale of the layoffs exceeded expectations and resulted in significant cuts, including the shuttering of the esteemed sports department and slashing photography staff, in addition to trimming the teams focusing on the Washington area and overseas reporting.
The Washington Post has faced a notable decline in staff retention in recent years, along with losing tens of thousands of subscribers. This decline was accelerated by the paper’s controversial decision to withdraw its initial plan to endorse Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election, as influenced by Bezos, and pivot towards a more conservative editorial stance.
In 2018, former President Donald Trump criticized the Washington Post, stating it often veered into fiction rather than fact, and called its stories poorly constructed, likening them to a badly written novel.
