(Alex Brandon/AP photo)
The Washington Post is being gutted by management, as the paper cuts about 300 jobs — including many on the sports desk — in what many are calling a dark day for journalism.
The Post’s leadership broke the news of sweeping layoffs after a call with staffers on Wednesday.
That morning, an email from executive editor Matt Murray and HR honcho Wayne Connell instructed employees to work from home and attend an 8:30 a.m. webinar via Zoom to announce “some significant actions across the company.”
Among the casualties are the paper’s entire sports department “in its current form,” according to WaPo sports columnist Barry Svrluga.
In addition, the books section and the Post Reports podcast will be no more, according to Semafor’s Max Tani.
The cuts came after weeks of turmoil from staffers, who were reportedly “brainstorming” on how to convince owner Jeff Bezos to reverse course on layoffs, including getting Big star Tom Hanks involved.
As the dust from the bombshell news cleared, numerous staffers took to social media to announce their departures as a result of the layoffs:
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