A 'bad day', 'perplexing', 'absolute bloodbath', 'bizarre decision', 'setback for journalism'... the reactions to the Jeff Bezos-owned The Washington Post's brutal decision to lay off a third of newsroom staff worldwide, around 300 people, have ranged from disbelief to disillusionment.
Former Executive Editor Marty Baron delivered one of the more searing assessments: "... the darkest days of one of the world's greatest news organisations", he said, questioning the fate of "ground-level, fact-based reporting" at a time when it was most needed.
Among those sacked was Lizzie Johnson, who was in Kyiv covering Russia's war on Ukraine when she was told her position was eliminated. Claire Parker, who ran the Cairo Bureau, and Aaron Wiener, the bureau chief in Berlin, were told their entire teams were to be sacked.
Delhi bureau chief Pranshu Verma and senior international affairs columnist Ishaan Tharoor, the son of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, were among those who were let go.
International Editor Peter Finn asked to be laid off too rather than face his gutted team.
A shocked labour union representing many Post journalists had this to say: "... a newsroom cannot be hollowed out without consequences for its credibility, its reach and its future..."
Why has the Post, one of the world's most influential, recognised, and respected news organisations, taken this extreme step? In a note to his newsroom Matt Murray, the Executive Editor, said, "We have grappled with financial challenges for some time. They have affected us in multiple rounds of cost cuts and buyouts, along with (other) periodic constraints..."
What happened at WaPo?
French publication Le Monde joined in the weeping; "a day of mourning and anger in the legendary American daily", it said, as it and other media organisations referred uneasily to reports that said the Post lost US$70 million in 2023 and US$100 million in 2024.
The latter figure was worsened by the loss of an estimated 250,000 digital subscribers after the decision to not endorse any candidate in the year's presidential election, despite the editorial board having decided to support Kamala Harris, a move that broke decades of tradition.
And across 2025 paid average daily circulation was less than 100,000 - a 60 per cent drop from just five years ago, according to data from the Alliance for Audited Media cited by Reuters.
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The paper has lost an eye-watering 500,000 subscribers since 2020.
Digital numbers fell from a peak of 22.5 million daily active users in January 2021 to less than three million by mid-2023, a frightening 90 per cent drop.
Privately-funded news outlets anywhere in the world have struggled for years to maintain a sustainable business model after the internet upended the economics of journalism.
And so, the Post - which made history by exposing President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal - was to see "substantial" cuts to its estimated 1,000-strong journalism roster.
In his note, Murray also said the changes "reflect the radically changing economy for the news media" and "will help secure our future... and provide us stability moving forward".
Matt Murray, the Post's Executive Editor, announced the job cuts (File).
But the layoffs weren't really a surprise. They never are.
Wednesday morning
Weeks before that Wednesday morning briefing fearful whispers and rumours made the rounds, underscored by certain staff being told not to bother coming in to work that day.
The "strategic reset" was announced at a two-hour call beginning 9 am ET.
READ | Bloodbath At The Washington Post: Ishaan Tharoor Among 300 Axed
By Wednesday afternoon a volley of pink slips had been fired to Post staff worldwide.
What about Bezos?
The Amazon boss was sent three letters between January 25 and 31.
Each asked him to protect different parts of the paper, from its foreign news operations to local teams. "We care deeply about the DC area, and we know you do, too..." one letter said.
He remained silent.
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post in 2013 (File).
One Post staffer told British publication The Guardian "... Bezos is ultimately making the call... he has enough money to do what he chooses..."
At the time of publishing this article, Bezos still hadn't commented.
The detachment, contrasting with Murray's pragmatic "painful but necessary" position and Chief Executive Officer Will Lewis' "will help secure our future" message, represent a well-worked, if unimaginative, framework within which corporate restructuring takes place.
But it doesn't silence voices that have looked beyond the financial and at the political.
And Trump?
Fingers have also been pointed at US President Donald Trump and his bludgeoning of media publications and journalists he views as critical of him and his policies, though there is no suggestion of a direct order from the Trump administration to lay off Post staff.
US President Donald Trump's relationship with Jeff Bezos is thawing (File).
Glenn Kessler, a fact-checker for nearly three decades at the Post, offered a rather blunt analysis: "Bezos is not attempting to save The Washington Post. He's trying to endure Trump."
The Trump-Bezos relationship is not what it was, a reality emphasised by Bezos, whom Trump once mocked as 'Jeff Bozo' and said was using the Post to attack him, having stayed silent about the FBI's unannounced raid on Post reporter Hannah Natanson's home in January.
The paper itself was not silent; the raid was denounced as "highly unusual and aggressive" and press freedom groups called it "a tremendous intrusion" by the Trump administration.
The thaw has been building since 2024, with Bezos congratulating Trump on his second term and attending the inauguration and the President declaring the Amazon chief a "good guy".
Do the Post layoffs figure somewhere in this thaw? Or are the cuts purely about ensuring one of the world's most famous news organisations survives an increasingly challenging digital era?
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