In a development that has sent shockwaves across news media circles, The Washington Post has fired roughly one-third of its workforce, eliminating more than 300 journalism positions, as the newspaper house confronts declining digital readership and mounting financial losses.
Among those laid off was Ishaan Tharoor, a longtime foreign affairs columnist at the paper and the son of Indian parliamentarian and author Shashi Tharoor. Reacting to reports of his son’s dismissal, Shashi Tharoor described the development as “deeply unfortunate,” while pointing to the broader crisis engulfing legacy news organizations worldwide.
Executive Editor Matt Murray described the decision as a “painful” but necessary restructuring, citing a steep fall in online traffic and sustained financial pressure. The move marks one of the most dramatic shakeups in the paper’s nearly 150-year history, news media report said.
Departments disbanded and bureaus closed
The layoffs have dismantled several long-established divisions. The newspaper has eliminated its standalone sports department and shut down Book World, a section long associated with its cultural and literary coverage. International reporting has been sharply reduced, with all Middle East correspondents and editors laid off and overseas bureaus in Jerusalem, Ukraine, and Berlin closed.
Local journalism has also suffered deep cuts. The Metro desk has been reduced from more than 40 journalists to roughly a dozen. Digital operations were hit as well, with the cancellation of the daily podcast Post Reports and widespread cuts to video and audio teams.
Financial pressure and staff backlash
The layoffs follow a difficult financial period for the newspaper. Media reports said The Post reportedly suffered losses of approximately US$100 million in 2024, as shifts in reader behavior and the growing influence of generative artificial intelligence tools eroded traditional sources of digital traffic.
As the layoffs unfolded, they were accompanied by a wave of online hostility. Sabrina Malhi, a US journalist of Indo-Caribbean origin who had served as the paper’s national health reporter, became the target of racist abuse on social media, with some users telling her to “return to India.” Malhi responded forcefully, writing, “Cause I don’t have a job and I have time today: I’m not from India, you f****g imbecile.”
Inside the newsroom, reaction to the cuts has been sharply critical. Former executive editor Marty Baron called the layoffs “among the darkest days” in the newspaper’s history. The Washington Post Guild condemned the move as a “bloodbath,” warning that it significantly weakens the paper’s journalistic mission and public service role.
According to The Guardian, veteran Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward said he was “crushed” by the mass layoffs, warning that both reporters and readers would feel the loss. “My beloved colleagues have lost their jobs, and our readers have been given less news and sound analysis,” he wrote on X, adding, “They deserve more.”
Woodward, who, with Carl Bernstein, exposed the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974, helped earn The Post a Pulitzer Prize. Their reporting later became the bestselling book and Oscar-winning film All the President’s Men.
