Why The Washington Post is reducing its staff

Just when you think journalism news can’t get any more grim, we get the buyout news this week out of The Washington Post.

The Washington Post!

As I wrote about Wednesday, the Post is looking to slash 240 jobs through buyouts. And if they don’t get there, the Post’s interim CEO tells staff that she can’t promise there won’t be layoffs.

Again, we’re talking about The Washington Post — one of the best and most respected names in journalism and a news outlet owned by one of the richest people on the planet in Jeff Bezos.

So what’s the latest?

On Wednesday, a day after the Post announced it would offer voluntary buyouts in hopes of cutting staff by 240 employees, the Post held a town hall staff meeting to go over the details.

According to several reports, including this from The New York Times’ Benjamin Mullin, interim Post CEO Patty Stonesifer told staff that the buyouts would be “evenly distributed” among the departments. She said that the journalism functions (news and opinion) would account for about “half the burden.”

The Post has approximately 2,500 employees.

The Washington Post’s Elahe Izadi and Will Sommer wrote, “About 700 of The Post’s roughly 2,500 employees received notices that they are eligible to take buyouts — but only about a third of those offered will be allowed to take them. Among the areas expected to be most affected are the Metro staff, where managers aim to trim a staff of 89 by nearly a quarter, including coverage areas such as education, transportation and social issues, according to people who attended smaller team meetings after Stonesifer’s announcement.”

According to The Washington Post’s Paul Farhi, Stonesifer told staff that since 2021, audiences are down 28%, subscriptions are down 15% (to around 2.5 million), print revenue is down 10% and digital advertising is down 30%.

She added, “This is a really good business that we overshot on expenses.”

That, and the overall meeting, didn’t go over well with some Post journalists, according to The Daily Beast’s Corbin Bolies. He wrote that Post reporter and guild president Katie Mettler told Stonesifer she was frustrated by reporters “bearing the consequences of very poor decisions” made by management.

The Post is hoping to cap the buyouts at 240, but Stonesifer reportedly said in the meeting, “We can’t promise that there won’t be layoffs.”

Bolies wrote, “Staffers grew agitated at this news, with reporters such as Valerie Strauss and Josh Dawsey pressing Stonesifer on management’s alleged lack of transparency and pointing to prior promises from former publisher Fred Ryan and Stonesifer herself that there wouldn’t be layoffs for the rest of the year. ‘Why should we believe any of the company’s assurances?’ Dawsey said. Stonesifer said she made a mistake in committing to that, and Dawsey questioned her on why the Post leadership’s economic projections were off.”

Stonesifer reportedly told Dawsey, “I wish I really knew the answer.”

As far as the possibility that Metro will be the most impacted, Post executive editor Sally Buzbee, according to the Post story, told the Metro staff in a meeting that the paper “remains committed to local journalism.”

Mettler told the Post, “Of all the bad options, (buyouts seem) to be the least bad option.”

As far as the buyout packages, Bolies wrote, “Employees who have been at the Post for less than three years will be offered six months of base pay along with six months of payments to a COBRA account. Employees with longer service will see payments increase by three to six months, with those at the Post for 15 years or more capping out at 24 months of base pay along with 12 months of COBRA payments, according to a PowerPoint outlining the terms. The company’s pension plan would fund the payments.”

The Post story reported that Stonesifer said Bezos approved the buyouts, but that he is open to spending more money once he hires a new publisher who can come up with a strategy for the future.

One more thought …

It has been thoroughly impressive how well The Washington Post reporters — mainly Izadi and Sommer — have aggressively covered the story of the Post buyouts.

Israel-Gaza coverage

Each day this week, I’ve tried to highlight some of the notable coverage of the war going on in Israel and the Gaza Strip. Here are more notable pieces from the past day:

• Powerful work from Fox News’ excellent reporter Trey Yingst: “Trey Yingst details 'hell on earth' after Hamas attack: Can ‘smell the stench of death in the air.’” (Warning: graphic content.)
• The Washington Post’s Miriam Berger with “With Gaza and Israel at war, Palestinian Authority struggles to be heard.”
• From the staff of The New York Times: “Hamas Leaves Trail of Terror in Israel.”
• The Associated Press’ Barbara Ortutay with “Social media is awash in misinformation about Israel-Gaza war, but Musk’s X is the most egregious.”
• Variety’s Brian Steinberg with “How CNN, Fox News and Others Scrambled to Cover Horrific Scenes in Israel: ‘We Haven’t Seen Anything Like This for Decades.’”
• For The Wall Street Journal, Dion Nissenbaum, Chao Deng and Anat Peled with “Scene of Massacre Becomes Staging Ground for Israel’s Invasion of Gaza. ‘I Am Looking for Revenge.’”
• From CNN: “See the devastation in Gaza after Israeli strikes.”
• Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent Nabih Bulos with “This Israeli couple’s son is in enemy hands. They’re determined to get him back.”
• For The New York Times, Angelo Fichera and Roni Rabin with “False Claims Around the Israel Attacks Include Recycled Videos and a Game Clip.”

Changing roles for Gershkovich’s release

The Wall Street Journal’s Paul Beckett is stepping away from his role as the Journal’s Washington, D.C., bureau chief to focus on getting Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich released from a Russian prison. Gershkovich was arrested and jailed in March on charges of espionage. The Journal and the U.S. government have vehemently denied Gershkovich is a spy, and the U.S. considers him “wrongfully detained.”

In a memo to staff, Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker wrote, “Paul has worked tirelessly lobbying for government action since we first knew Evan was missing in March. I am very grateful for everything he has achieved so far.”

Hannity turns on RFK Jr.

Well, that didn’t take long.

Not that long ago, back when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wanted to run for president as a Democrat, he was the darling of Fox News, and in particular, prime-time host Sean Hannity. Fox News even gave him a town hall, with Hannity asking the questions.

As Washington Post columnist Philip Bump noted, Hannity introduced Kennedy then by saying, “Many of his fellow Democrats and others in the media mob, make no mistake, they are right now furious with Kennedy. They seem to loathe his stance on medical freedom and privacy. They are angry he does not toe the party line on the war in Ukraine and former president Donald Trump. They can’t seem to stand that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a free thinker with classic liberal principles. And today, well, today’s Democratic Party is about compliance. It’s about going along. It’s about groupthink.”

Hannity seemed to be propping up Kennedy, especially because Kennedy might have been a threat to President Joe Biden.

But now that Kennedy has decided to run for president as an independent, Hannity might not be such a fan, especially because Kennedy is now a threat to Donald Trump, too. Hannity had Kennedy on his show this week and, judging by this clip, Hannity has taken off his kid gloves and put down his pompoms.

After listing some of the things Kennedy has said and done over the years, Hannity wondered aloud why the Democratic Party didn’t want him seeing as “that’s as pretty liberal of a record as anybody I know.”

At one point, Kennedy shot back, “Do you want to talk about my positions, Sean, or do you want to read talking points from the Trump campaign?”

To which Hannity said, “Excuse me, these are not talking points. These are called Hannity points. I do my own research.”

Bump wrote, “At times, Hannity’s prosecution of Kennedy on Tuesday was almost revelatory, a glimpse of what might be possible in a world where Hannity didn’t dedicate his show night after night to aiding Trump or Trump’s party.”

Bump concluded by writing, “It’s understandable that Kennedy would want to do Hannity’s show, given the uphill task he faces in winning the presidency. But it’s surprising that he wouldn’t have been prepared for a very different reception from Hannity now that he’ll probably be running against Hannity’s friend.”

LOL

 

Longtime ESPN personality Pablo Torre, who is now a podcaster for Dan Le Batard and John Skipper’s Meadowlark Media, recently went on MSNBC to talk about his former classmate at Harvard: Vivek Ramaswamy, who is a Republican presidential candidate.

Appearing on “The 11th Hour,” Torre referred to Ramaswamy as “that guy.”

“There’s a taxonomy to that guy,” Torre said. “That guy always raises his hand in class … and is somebody who is insanely ambitious and insanely image-conscious, but also totally numb to the idea that everyone around them is cringing.”

Torre said he was in a moral philosophies class with Ramaswamy and every time Ramaswamy raised his hand, he would do so in the shape of a “V” — you know, for Vivek.

Torre said, “It was like he was shining his own bat signal for terrible libertarian takes as a freshman in college.” He added, “The dude has been ridiculous for 20 years.”

The New York Post’s Ryan Glasspiegel reached out to the Ramaswamy campaign for a response. Tricia McLaughlin, senior adviser and communications director for Ramaswamy, said in an email, “While Vivek doesn’t recall ever meeting this gentleman, we wish Pablo the very best and hope he finds success in his career and life whether that be through talking about former classmates as he is now or possibly through something more productive like creating jobs or building a business as Vivek has done.”

When asked for a response to Ramaswamy’s response, Torre said, “lol.”

Media tidbits

• My Poynter colleague Kristen Hare with “How The Kansas City Star is covering the Taylor Swift beat.”
• For Nieman Reports, Gabe Bullard with “Six Months Ago NPR Left Twitter. The Effects Have Been Negligible.”
• Chuck Todd is back to writing a column for NBC News. His latest: “Democrats wrestle with the Biden conundrum.”
• Todd also is returning with new episodes of his “The Chuck ToddCast” podcast. Here’s the episode kicking off the new era.
• Sports Business Daily’s Austin Karp writes, “Heading into the final three months of the year, the NFL accounts for 45 of the 75 most-watched shows on U.S. airwaves, with 20 of those telecasts already coming from the 2023 regular season through the end of September.”
• Tweet of the day: It comes from Jason Gay, sports columnist at The Wall Street Journal. He linked to a CNN story with the headline: “Alabama public library system mistakenly flags children’s book as ‘sexually explicit’ because author’s last name is Gay.” Gay tweeted, “Wait until they see the Wall Street Journal sports column.”

Hot type

• Some might find this a difficult story to read. The Texas Tribune’s Eleanor Klibanoff and Shelby Tauber with “She was told her twin sons wouldn’t survive. Texas law made her give birth anyway.”
• Sportswriter Jim Caple, who was suffering from dementia and ALS, died last week at the age of 61. Sports Illustrated special contributor Steve Rushin with a touching tribute: “Love and Sports Were Perfectly Intertwined in Sportswriter Jim Caple’s Life Until the Very End.”

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