Washington Post cuts 300-plus newsroom jobs amid organisational reset

New Delhi: The Washington Post has cut hundreds of newsroom roles as part of a sweeping restructuring, with more than 300 journalists affected across departments, including international, local and sport, according to multiple reports and staff accounts.

The reductions represent roughly a third of the newsroom and form part of a broader overhaul of the Jeff Bezos-owned publication, as per the news reports.

Staff were informed of “significant actions” across the company in an internal message and asked to remain at home before joining a scheduled video call with senior leadership.

As per the news reports, in a note to employees, executive editor Matt Murray described the decision as difficult and said the organisation’s structure reflected an earlier era when the newspaper operated primarily as a dominant local print outlet. 

The cuts have significantly reduced several desks. Most of the sports department has been eliminated, with only a small number of employees expected to be reassigned internally. International and metro reporting teams have also been heavily affected, and staff accounts indicate that the newspaper has closed its Jerusalem and Ukraine bureaus. The metro desk, historically central to the publication’s reporting, has been reduced to a much smaller team.

Journalists across beats, including culture, technology and foreign correspondence, confirmed on social media that they had lost their roles. Some said the reductions affected large parts of the international staff and expressed concern about the impact on global coverage.

Several correspondents and reporters had previously appealed to owner Jeff Bezos to reconsider potential job cuts, arguing that coverage across international, local and specialist desks contributed directly to subscription growth and newsroom collaboration.

The restructuring follows months of uncertainty at the paper, including earlier buyout offers and internal discussions about shifting resources towards political coverage while scaling back other areas such as sport and foreign reporting. The newspaper has also faced subscriber losses and internal tensions in recent years following editorial decisions and changes to its opinion section.

Also, Ishaan Tharoor, senior international affairs columnist and son of Indian MP Shashi Tharoor, said he was among those laid off as part of the downsizing, noting that much of the international staff had been affected. 

I have been laid off today from the @washingtonpost, along with most of the International staff and so many other wonderful colleagues. I’m heartbroken for our newsroom and especially for the peerless journalists who served the Post internationally — editors and correspondents…

— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) February 4, 2026

He wrote on X, “I have been laid off today from the @washingtonpost, along with most of the International staff and so many other wonderful colleagues. I’m heartbroken for our newsroom and especially for the peerless journalists who served the Post internationally, editors and correspondents who have been my friends and collaborators for almost 12 years. It’s been an honor to work with them.”

In a separate post, he shared an image of what appeared to be an empty newsroom beneath the paper’s “Democracy Dies in Darkness” slogan, writing: “A bad day.”

A bad day pic.twitter.com/cIX8rIjJPu

— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) February 4, 2026