WASHINGTON POST GUTS NEWSROOM: One-Third of Staff Fired, Including All Its Middle East Journalists

The Washington Post has gutted its newsroom, laying off roughly one-third of staff in a sweeping purge that eliminated the sports section, Book World, multiple foreign bureaus — and all Middle East correspondents and editors.

A long-overdue reckoning: years of ideological bias and activist propaganda hollowed out the Washington Post, weakening its credibility and blunting its influence in the information war.

The Washington Post laid off more than 300 newsroom staff—about one-third—eliminating departments like sports, books, photo, climate, and several international bureaus to refocus on national politics, security, business, and health. Executive Editor Matt Murray cited declining search traffic from AI and a structure outdated from its print era, amid $77 million losses in 2023 and subscriber drops after decisions like skipping a 2024 endorsement. Laid-off journalists expressed devastation, with critics like former editor Marty Baron calling it a retreat, while some conservatives pointed to past overstaffing.

Well, you got 5 years out of a worthless bullshit job pushing absurd propaganda. You should be grateful. https://t.co/gWeAxgncjp

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) February 5, 2026

WaPo people posting about being laid off and calling for people to have compassion, are the same people who would dox you, get you fired if you had a different opinion than them. Fuck them. Good riddance. Watching the tears of soy flow has been entertaining though

— Steve Inman (@SteveInmanUIC) February 4, 2026

Washington Post fires one-third of staff, including all its Middle East journalists

Editor defends painful but necessary move; staff union calls on public to pressure owner Jeff Bezos; former editor decries ‘near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction’

By David Bauder, Times of Israel, 4 February 2026:

The Post’s executive editor, Matt Murray, called the move painful but necessary to put the outlet on stronger footing and weather changes in technology and user habits. “We can’t be everything to everyone,” Murray said in a note to staff members.

He outlined the changes in a companywide online meeting, and staff members then began getting emails with one of two subject lines — telling them their role was or was not eliminated.

Rumors of layoffs had circulated for weeks, ever since word leaked that sports reporters who had expected to travel to Italy for the Winter Olympics would not be going. But when official word came down, the size and scale of the cuts were shocking, affecting virtually every department in the newsroom.

“It’s just devastating news for anyone who cares about journalism in America and, in fact, the world,” said Margaret Sullivan, a Columbia University journalism professor and former media columnist at the Post and The New York Times. “The Washington Post has been so important in so many ways, in news coverage, sports and cultural coverage.”

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Martin Baron, the Post’s first editor under its current owner, billionaire Jeff Bezos, condemned his former boss and called what has happened at the newspaper “a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.”

As of midday, the Post did not have any news of the changes on its website.

FILE- In this Jan. 28, 2018, file photo Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos talks about the history and character of the Post during a dedication ceremony for its new headquarters in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Journalists pleaded with Bezos for help
Bezos, who has been silent in recent weeks amid pleas from Post journalists to step in and prevent the cutbacks, had no immediate comment Wednesday.

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The newspaper has been bleeding subscribers in part due to decisions made by Bezos, including pulling back from an endorsement of Kamala Harris, a Democrat, during the 2024 presidential election against Donald Trump, a Republican, and directing a more conservative turn on liberal opinion pages.

A private company, the Post does not reveal how many subscribers it has, but it is believed to be roughly 2 million. The Post would also not say how many people it has on staff, making it impossible to estimate how many people were laid off Wednesday. The Post also did not outline its finances.

The Post’s troubles stand in contrast to its longtime competitor The New York Times, which has been thriving in recent years, in large part due to investments in ancillary products such as games and its Wirecutter product recommendations. The Times has doubled its staff over the past decade.

Eliminating the sports section puts an end to a department that has hosted many well-known bylines through the years, among them John Feinstein, Michael Wilbon, Shirley Povich, Sally Jenkins and Tony Kornheiser. The Times has also largely ended its sports section, but it has replaced the coverage by buying The Athletic and incorporating its work into the Times website.

The Post’s Book World, a destination for book reviews, literary news and author interviews, has been a dedicated section in its Sunday paper.

Dan Balz (L), chief correspondent, The Washington Post, discusses with journalists Bob Woodward (C) and Carl Bernstein (R) during an event marking the 50th anniversary of the Watergate burglary at the Washington Post office in Washington, DC, June 17, 2022. (Joshua MELVIN / AFP)
A half-century ago, the Post’s coverage of Watergate, led by intrepid reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, entered the history books. The Style section under longtime Executive Editor Ben Bradlee hosted some of the country’s best feature writing.

All Middle East correspondents and editors fired

Word of specific cuts drifted out during the day, as when Cairo Bureau Chief Claire Parker announced on X that she had been laid off, along with all of the newspaper’s Middle East correspondents and editors. “Hard to understand the logic,” she wrote.

In the immediate future, Murray said, the Post would concentrate on areas that demonstrate authority, distinctiveness and impact, and resonate with readers, including politics, national affairs and security. Even during its recent troubles, the Post has been notably aggressive in coverage of Trump’s changes to the federal workforce.

The company’s structure is rooted in a different era, when the Post was a dominant print product, Murray said in his note to staff members. In areas such as video, the outlet hasn’t kept up with consumer habits, he said.

“Significantly, our daily story output has substantially fallen in the last five years,” he said. “And even as we produce much excellent work, we too often write from one perspective, for one slice of the audience.”

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