Washington Put up staffers plead with Jeff Bezos amid layoff hypothesis

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Washington Put up staffers have resorted to straight addressing billionaire proprietor Jeff Bezos with a tense letter and "#SaveThePost" messages on social media amid experiences of great layoffs on the horizon.

The final a number of years on the Washington Post have been turbulent between vital monetary losses, the exodus of expertise that has fled to competing shops and low morale within the newsroom. Washington Put up leaders have been working for roughly two years to be ready to interrupt even financially after reported $100 million losses in 2024, and an upcoming headcount discount is predicted to assist accomplish that aim.

Former media author Paul Farhi, who left in 2023 after 35 years on the paper and stays near the newsroom, informed Fox Information Digital that staffers are presently listening to as many as 300 individuals company-wide —lots of them sports activities and international affairs reporters, but additionally non-newsroom personnel — could possibly be laid off.

Staffers have been saved at nighttime as rumors swirled over the weekend after a sequence of experiences precipitated panic on the paper, prompting the paper’s international correspondents to ship a letter on to Bezos.

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Billionaire Washington Put up proprietor Jeff Bezos. (Karwai Tang/WireImage;Eric Baradfat/AFP through Getty Pictures)

"We're The Washington Put up’s worldwide correspondents, writing with a collective plea so that you can protect our newspaper’s international protection, which we concern will probably be significantly weakened in coming cuts," they wrote in a memo first reported by Semafor and confirmed by Fox Information Digital.

"From bureaus all over the world, our award-winning worldwide crew usually scoops and outshines the New York Occasions, Wall Road Journal and different main information shops, regardless of already having considerably fewer reporters," they continued. "Reducing this deeply sourced, battle-hardened and tireless employees would hinder The Put up’s skill to reply to the most important information developments on the horizon."

On Monday, Washington Put up staffers launched a social media marketing campaign.

"Hello @JeffBezos. We are going to always remember your help for our important work documenting the conflict in Ukraine, which nonetheless rages. Your spouse has known as our crew ‘badass beacons of hope.’ We danger our lives for the tales our readers demand. Please imagine in us and #SaveThePost," Ukraine bureau chief Siobhán O'Grady wrote on X .

Ukraine correspondent Lizzie Johnson shared a photograph of herself working and stated she was doing so with out energy, warmth or operating water and, regardless of difficulties, is "proud to be a international correspondent" on the paper.

"I really like my job. Each day, I put my life on the road for my job. And I might very very similar to to maintain my job, telling tales from the entrance strains of a conflict that's reshaping the world. (I believe Washington Put up readers would agree int’l protection is important.) Please @JeffBezos," Johnson wrote .

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Washington Put up staffers have resorted to straight addressing billionaire proprietor Jeff Bezos amid widespread hypothesis that vital layoffs are on the horizon. (Stefano Rellandin/AFP through Getty Pictures)

Iran correspondent Yeganeh Torbati pleaded with Bezos to permit her protection to proceed.

"Since June, I've reported on US/Israeli strikes, a dire water disaster, state coercion of the non-public sector, and now, horrific govt violence towards protesters. I would like nothing greater than to maintain doing this essential work. #SaveThePost," Torbati wrote .

Center East correspondent Loveday Morris posted , "Immediately a supply warned me that my reporting strains may have me killed. Simply a median day as a international correspondent. I can’t rely the variety of instances I’ve come underneath hearth or had home windows rattle from blasts. Our worldwide employees danger a lot to convey residence information. #SaveThePost."

White Home bureau chief Matt Viser additionally addressed Bezos.

"Our international colleagues are important in shedding mild on what is going on on this planet. Over the previous 5 years masking the White Home at @washingtonpost, it’s not possible to overstate how a lot we depend upon them and the way diminished we’d be with out them. #SaveThePost @JeffBezos," Viser wrote .

EX-WASHINGTON POST FACT CHECKER HITS ‘ABSENTEE OWNER’ BEZOS, TELLS HIM TO COMMIT TO SAVING PAPER OR SELL IT

The Washington Put up's constructing in DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Pictures)

Many different Washington Put up workers took to X with comparable messages.

The letter to Bezos and social media marketing campaign got here after an onslaught of detrimental info spooked workers.

The Washington Put up knowledgeable staffers late Friday that it would not ship sports activities reporters to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Italy, though that call was reportedly reversed on Monday. On Saturday, Puck's Dylan Byers reported that "large" layoffs have been coming to the Washington Put up and a "rumor" is that the sports activities desk could possibly be fully shuttered, and the international desk would even be "hit laborious."

New York Occasions reporter Erik Wemple, a former Put up media scribe, reported that the sports activities part was instructed to not ebook journey assignments for its Washington Nationals beat writers who have been anticipated to cowl the crew in spring coaching.

The Occasions additionally reported that "international employees have been informed explicitly that their jobs are in danger," and that they have been instructed to not journey to high-risk zones as of Feb. 1, with many assuming that choices are tied to looming cuts.

Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Put up. (AP)

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The Washington Put up didn't instantly reply to a sequence of questions and a request for remark.

Bezos, who bought the paper in 2013 for $250 million, was known as an "absentee proprietor" by former Put up fact-checker Glenn Kessler final 12 months.

"He needs to be dedicated to it. If he isn't dedicated to it, he ought to discover another person to personal it," Kessler informed Fox Information Digital in August.

Bezos also took heat from employees in 2024 when he abruptly axed the paper's deliberate endorsement of Kamala Harris for the White Home. The stunning choice to endorse nobody for the presidency shortly earlier than the election sparked massive subscriber losses and a slew of employees resignations.

Final 12 months, Washington Put up writer and CEO William Lewis told staffers they need to take into account taking a buyout if they do not really feel "aligned" with the paper's course, which has included a revamping of the opinion part towards extra championing of American values.

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Fox Information Digital's Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.

Brian Flood is a media editor/reporter for FOX Information Digital. Story ideas will be despatched to brian.flood@fox.com and on Twitter: @briansflood.