Reporters at the The Washington Post are urging owner Jeff Bezos to halt planned newsroom layoffs, warning that deep cuts could damage the paper’s reporting strength and subscriber growth.
In a letter obtained by CNN, the Post’s White House reporting team argued that political coverage depends heavily on collaboration with other desks, including foreign, local, and sports.
The reporters said many new subscriptions are driven by stories produced outside the politics team.
Washington Post CEO Will Lewis has decided to focus the company's editorial investment on a few core coverage areas—national security, politics, etc—and not sports. Layoffs are expected to begin as soon as this week.@Ourand_Puck & @DylanByers report: https://t.co/Y4OP3EzsFF
— Puck (@PuckNews) January 27, 2026
The appeal comes amid expectations of widespread layoffs and signs of retrenchment, including a decision not to send reporters to the Winter Olympics. Other desks, including international and local coverage, have also written to Bezos expressing concern.
Staff members fear the paper is narrowing its focus too aggressively. Some reporters blame recent leadership decisions, including changes to the opinion section during President Donald Trump’s second term, for subscriber losses and declining morale.
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