Washington Post tells staff to stay home today for a Zoom call about ‘significant actions’

By Brian Stelter, CNN

(CNN) — The Washington Post is announcing mass layoffs Wednesday morning, dealing another big blow to a storied media company and a newsroom that has reached a breaking point.

Executive Editor Matt Murray and human resources chief Wayne Connell sent an email to staffers Wednesday morning instructing employees to “stay home today” but attend an 8:30 a.m. ET meeting via Zoom during which the Washington Post’s leadership will announce “significant actions across the company.”

Those actions include shutting down almost the entire Sports section, closing the Books section and cancelling the daily Post Reports podcast, sources at the newspaper said.

One of the most severe cuts comes in the form of a “restructuring” of the Post’s Metro desk, which covers D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

The Post’s international coverage will also be markedly reduced, though some bureaus outside the US will remain open.

Widespread layoffs at the Post have been expected for several weeks, especially after leadership told staff in an internal memo that they no longer planned to send any reporters to the Winter Olympics this month — a decision that was ultimately reversed.

The Post’s publisher, Will Lewis, has spoken privately about finding a path to profitability for the Post by focusing the paper’s investment on politics and a few other key areas, while cutting back in areas like sports and foreign affairs.

That prompted teams of reporters to send owner Jeff Bezos impassioned letters that urged him not to shrink the newsroom.

In one letter obtained by CNN, signed by bureau chief Matt Viser and seven other White House reporters, the staff said it will be unable to maintain its history of excellence in reporting if the Post lays off significant numbers from other news units.

“If the plan, to the extent there is one, is to reorient around politics we wanted to emphasize how much we rely on collaboration with foreign, sports, local — the entire paper, really. And if other sections are diminished, we all are,” Viser and the other signees said.

A year ago, Bezos outlined a new vision for the Post’s once-esteemed opinion section, promoting libertarian ideals, including free markets and personal liberties. That decision led opinion editor David Shipley to exit the company.

Bezos’ change came months after he canceled a planned editorial page endorsement of Kamala Harris in late 2024. That decision led to mass cancellations from subscribers, hurting the Post’s bottom line.

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