The Washington Post Staff to Jeff Bezos: We Have So Much Work Left to Do
The Washington Post staff urge Jeff Bezos to protect global reporting amid looming layoffs and financial pressures.
Foreign correspondents at The Washington Post have sent a collective letter directly to the newspaper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, urging him to safeguard the institution’s global reporting operations amid acute concern about imminent staff cuts and layoffs that could begin as early as February 2026. The appeal, circulated internally and reported by multiple outlets, reflects widespread anxiety among journalists that substantial reductions — particularly to foreign coverage — would diminish the newspaper’s capacity to cover developments beyond the United States with the depth and continuity that have long distinguished its journalism.
Jeff Bezos acquired The Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million through his private holding company, Nash Holdings, purchasing the newspaper, its associated titles, and related real estate from the Graham family after eight decades of their stewardship. As the sole owner, Jeff Bezos operates the paper as a private investment, distinct from his role at Amazon.com, and has long asserted that editorial independence would be maintained while guiding the publication through the digital transition that has upended the economics of newspapers worldwide.
Although Bezos’s ownership of The Washington Post is separate from Amazon, the current moment coincides with high‑profile expenditures by Amazon. Amazon MGM Studios paid about $40 million to license and distribute a documentary about Melania Trump — reportedly the highest price ever paid for a documentary of its kind — and Amazon is spending tens of millions more on worldwide marketing, including a White House screening attended by President Donald Trump and Amazon top bosses, among others.
This is not to imply any causal link between the newspaper’s financial challenges and a change in personal relations between Donald Trump and Jeff Bezos; in fact, on matters of editorial opinion, The Washington Post has been consistently critical of Donald Trump. The paper’s opinion pages have published numerous editorials scrutinising Trump’s conduct, and Trump and many of his supporters have openly derided the newspaper as “fake news” or “Bezos’ paper,” branding it as part of the “liberal media.” Trump himself has personally attacked both the publication and its owner, and the newsroom’s independence in coverage of political figures has remained a core assertion of its editorial identity.
The staff’s concern about cost‑cutting reflects broader financial realities confronting The Post. Like many legacy news organizations, it has struggled to maintain a sustainable business model since the internet eroded traditional revenue streams. Declining print advertising, the dominance of digital ad revenue by platforms such as Google and Meta, and the failure of digital subscription growth to fully offset these declines have strained the newspaper’s finances. In 2023, The Washington Post reported a $77 million operating loss as readership and digital traffic declined from earlier peaks, and these trends have continued into 2024, with estimates of around $100 million in losses contributing to a reassessment of coverage priorities and newsroom resources.
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These financial pressures are reflected in recent editorial decisions. In early 2026, the paper abruptly canceled plans to send a team to cover the Winter Olympics in Italy, a move explained in an internal memo as part of a reassessment of priorities ahead of expected layoffs. Observers noted that this decision, made just weeks before the Games’ opening, was emblematic of the difficult choices facing management as it seeks to reduce costs in a rapidly changing media market.
In their letter to Jeff Bezos, the foreign staff of The Washington Post detailed the stakes of these potential cuts, highlighting the importance of sustaining the deeply sourced, battle‑tested reporting that has defined The Post’s international coverage. They argued that reducing the presence and resources of seasoned correspondents would materially hinder the newspaper’s ability to respond to major global developments — from tensions in the Taiwan Strait and Russia’s evolving confrontation with Europe to fractures within NATO, U.S. interventions in Latin America, upheavals in the Middle East, and other critical geopolitical flashpoints that require sustained on‑the‑ground reporting rather than remote analysis.
The staff further emphasised their commitment to finding ways to reduce costs while preserving as many jobs as possible, noting that slashing international bureaus historically leads to both a loss of reach and a decline in relevance. They warned that readers and advertisers alike would turn to rivals that have maintained or bolstered their global presence, and highlighted the unique value of face‑to‑face source relationships cultivated over years, often in partnership with local staff whose linguistic skills and experience amplify the impact of the paper’s journalism.
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In appealing to Bezos’s early encouragement, the correspondents recalled his first newsroom town hall in 2013, where he cautioned that a strategy of being “profitable and shrinking” may preserve operations in the short term but ultimately leads to irrelevance or extinction. They implored him to consider how proposed layoffs could jeopardise the institution’s long‑term viability, framing this not merely as a business decision but as one that could erode the journalistic authority and public trust painstakingly built over decades.
Historical precedent shows the significance of the contributions of The Washington Post. The newspaper has been central to some of the most consequential reporting in American history, from the Pentagon Papers and Watergate scandal that shaped public understanding of government accountability, to Pulitzer Prize‑winning investigations into secret CIA prisons and national surveillance programs, high‑impact coverage of political disinformation, and detailed reporting on the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The current predicament at The Washington Post is not solely the result of internal management decisions; it reflects broader structural challenges in the newspaper industry. Traditional ownership patterns have shaped both editorial independence and financial vulnerability. Billionaire ownership, as in the case of Jeff Bezos, can provide much‑needed capital and a buffer against short‑term profit demands, enabling investment in technology, global reporting, and investigative journalism. Yet this model does not inherently guarantee long‑term financial viability, particularly when broader market forces compress revenue and require returns on investment that may be at odds with sustaining costly reporting operations.
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Similarly, alternative ownership structures have their limitations. Family ownership, such as the Ochs‑Sulzberger stewardship of The New York Times, has historically protected editorial autonomy but cannot indefinitely underwrite losses or radically expand digital capabilities without strategic adaptation. Publicly traded companies and hedge fund or private equity owners, meanwhile, often prioritise profitability and shareholder returns, leading to repeated cuts to newsroom staff, reduced foreign bureaus, and diminished investigative depth — as seen across regional chains and large media groups that have restructured to meet financial targets. These patterns demonstrate that no single ownership form has fully resolved the tension between independence and sustainability.
Beneath these ownership dynamics lies a deeper structural problem afflicting newspapers in the United States. Print advertising, once the mainstay of media revenue, has continued its long decline; digital advertising dollars are largely captured by dominant technology platforms; subscription fatigue has set in as audiences divide their attention across services; and the fixed costs associated with international bureaus, investigative units, and distribution remain high. This confluence of pressures has forced news organisations to rethink traditional business models even as demand for high‑quality reporting persists.
In this context, cost‑cutting measures and layoffs at The Washington Post are not isolated phenomena but part of a wider contraction affecting many newspapers and media outlets, as industry layoffs have surged and the broader entertainment and media sector shrinks. There is no simple solution to the structural challenges facing news ownership; the patterns of control and capital allocation are deeply entrenched. Nevertheless, as advertising revenues fall and readership models evolve, one of the few viable paths to sustainability lies in elevating the quality and depth of reporting — shifting from routine event coverage toward exclusive, in‑depth journalism that engaged audiences value enough to support financially. In doing so, newspapers can reinforce their indispensable role in public life while adapting to the economic realities of a fragmented and highly competitive media landscape.
