Cuts, cowardice and kowtowing that gutted the Washington Post

Last week 300 of the paper's journalists lost their jobs, apparently sacrificed to owner Jeff Bezos's plan to keep Donald Trump happy.

- Stephen Armstrong reports

Matt Murray, left, and Will Lewis, centre, in the Washington Post newsroom in June 2024.

(Getty)

On 25 January Lizzie Johnson, the Washington Post's Kyiv-based correspondent, posted a picture on X, huddled in the back of a car with helmet and head torch.

"Waking up without power, heat, or running water. (Again.)", she wrote. "But the work here in Kyiv continues. Warming up in the car, writing in pencil - pen ink freezes - by headlamp. Despite how difficult this job can be, I am proud to be a foreign correspondent at the Washington Post."

On 4 February she posted: "I was just laid off by the Washington Post in the middle of a war zone. I have no words. I'm devastated."

That morning, staff received an email. "We will be announcing some significant actions across the company today," it read. "We are asking everyone to stay at home this morning for a Zoom webinar at 8.30am." Executive editor Matt Murray and human resources chief Wayne Connell spoke briefly and, by the end of the call, 300 journalists - roughly 30% of the newsroom - were unemployed.

This is a story of cuts, lack of strategy and political cowardice that has gutted one of the most important newspapers in the world.

"It's like Jeff Bezos took lessons from Elon Musk about how to treat people," says Glenn Kessler, the long-serving editor who created the Fact Checker section, which gave "Pinocchios" to politicians who didn't tell the truth about their policies.

He recalls one of the spurs that led to him taking redundancy in 2025 - an hour-long conversation with publisher Will Lewis, the British former News International and Daily Telegraph boss hired by owner Bezos to reorganise the paper. Lewis was trying to work out how to attract more viewers from Fox News to read the Post - known for its political investigations and reputation as a writer's paper.