Washington Post layoffs deepen newsroom crisis amid losses
The owner of the "Washington Post," Jeff Bezos, announced the layoff of about four percent of the newspaper's employees, which amounts to close to 100 people, as reported by BBC News on Wednesday. Media outlets note that this decision will likely exacerbate the already serious crisis in the newspaper's editorial office.
According to the BBC, the job cuts at the "Washington Post" are expected to affect employees responsible for the newspaper's financial performance primarily. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, explains that the layoffs are necessary to curb the newspaper's growing losses.
Competing media have highlighted that the announcement of layoffs at the "Washington Post" coincides with major turmoil in the editorial office.
Over the weekend, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes resigned from the newspaper. She decided to protest the refusal to publish her cartoon, which depicted Bezos and other American business magnates kneeling before a statue of President-elect Donald Trump.
Prestigious newspaper in crisis
The crisis within the newspaper has been escalating over several months. In 2023, the "Washington Post" recorded losses of $77 million and saw a significant decline in website readers, with these trends worsening last year.
Additionally, in response to the newspaper's failure to unequivocally endorse Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris during the U.S. presidential election campaign, 250,000 subscribers canceled their subscriptions. In protest, several well-known journalists, including Editor-in-Chief Matea Gold and investigative reporter Josh Dawsey, also left the newspaper. Bezos explained at the time that he decided to avoid exacerbating media bias.
The BBC highlights that last month, the owner of Amazon announced his company would donate $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund.
