“It felt inhumane to be fired over Zoom.”
The Washington Post — one of the largest news organisations in the United States — laid off nearly half of its newsroom earlier this month, shutting down all of its bureaus across Ukraine and the Middle East in a sweeping purge widely seen as a brutal blow to journalism and one of its most storied brands.
Sports enterprise reporter Sam Fortier told TRT World that around 400 staffers were dismissed, including Pulitzer Prize winners.
Founded nearly 150 years ago, The Post has long been regarded as one of the nation’s leading news organizations, especially after its reporting exposed the Watergate scandal in 1972, a turning point that ultimately led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974.
The Post’s executive editor, Matt Murray, described the cuts as “painful but necessary” to place the outlet on stronger footing and adapt to shifts in technology and changing audience habits.
In recent months, the newspaper has been losing subscribers, partly due to decisions by its owner, US billionaire Jeff Bezos, who also owns Amazon.
Bezos pulled back from endorsing Kamala Harris in 2024 and steered a more conservative shift on the paper’s opinion pages. He was also seated prominently at Trump’s inauguration, underscoring his evolving political ties.
Trump had been a vocal critic of Bezos during his first term, accusing The Post of unfair coverage. However, in March 2025, the Republican president praised the tech billionaire, saying Bezos was doing “a real job” with the publication.
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