Ex-Washington Post fact checker hits absentee owner Jeff Bezos
Former Washington Post face checker Glenn Kessler spoke with Fox News Digital about the papers "absentee owner" Jeff Bezos and the challenges the news outlet faces.
Washington Post staffers have resorted to directly addressing billionaire owner Jeff Bezos with a tense letter and "#SaveThePost" messages on social media amid reports of significant layoffs on the horizon.
The last several years at the Washington Post have been turbulent between significant financial losses, the exodus of talent that has fled to competing outlets and low morale in the newsroom. Washington Post leaders have been working for roughly two years to be in a position to break even financially after reported $100 million losses in 2024, and an upcoming headcount reduction is expected to help accomplish that goal.
Former media writer Paul Farhi, who left in 2023 after 35 years at the paper and remains close to the newsroom, told Fox News Digital that staffers are currently hearing as many as 300 people company-wide —many of them sports and foreign affairs reporters, but also non-newsroom personnel — could be laid off.
Staffers have been kept in the dark as rumors swirled over the weekend after a series of reports caused panic at the paper, prompting the paper’s foreign correspondents to send a letter directly to Bezos.
EDITORIAL OVERHAUL: WASHINGTON POST'S NEW OPINION CHIEF FEELS THE WEIGHT OF THE CHALLENGES AHEAD
Billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. (Karwai Tang/WireImage;Eric Baradfat/AFP via Getty Images)
"We are The Washington Post’s international correspondents, writing with a collective plea for you to preserve our newspaper’s global coverage, which we fear will be greatly weakened in coming cuts," they wrote in a memo first reported by Semafor and confirmed by Fox News Digital.
"From bureaus around the world, our award-winning international team regularly scoops and outshines the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other major news outlets, despite already having significantly fewer reporters," they continued. "Cutting this deeply sourced, battle-hardened and tireless staff would hinder The Post’s ability to respond to the biggest news developments on the horizon."
On Monday, Washington Post staffers launched a social media campaign.
"Hi @JeffBezos. We will never forget your support for our essential work documenting the war in Ukraine, which still rages. Your wife has called our team ‘badass beacons of hope.’ We risk our lives for the stories our readers demand. Please believe in us and #SaveThePost," Ukraine bureau chief Siobhán O'Grady wrote on X.
Ukraine correspondent Lizzie Johnson shared a photo of herself working and said she was doing so without power, heat or running water and, despite difficulties, is "proud to be a foreign correspondent" at the paper.
"I love my job. Every day, I put my life on the line for my job. And I would very much like to keep my job, telling stories from the front lines of a war that is reshaping the world. (I think Washington Post readers would agree int’l coverage is vital.) Please @JeffBezos," Johnson wrote.
Washington Post staffers have resorted to directly addressing billionaire owner Jeff Bezos amid widespread speculation that significant layoffs are on the horizon. (Stefano Rellandin/AFP via Getty Images)
Iran correspondent Yeganeh Torbati pleaded with Bezos to allow her coverage to continue.
"Since June, I've reported on US/Israeli strikes, a dire water crisis, state coercion of the private sector, and now, horrific govt violence against protesters. I want nothing more than to keep doing this important work. #SaveThePost," Torbati wrote.
Middle East correspondent Loveday Morris posted, "Today a source warned me that my reporting lines could have me killed. Just an average day as a foreign correspondent. I can’t count the number of times I’ve come under fire or had windows rattle from blasts. Our international staff risk so much to bring home news. #SaveThePost."
White House bureau chief Matt Viser also addressed Bezos.
"Our foreign colleagues are vital in shedding light on what is happening in the world. Over the past five years covering the White House at @washingtonpost, it’s impossible to overstate how much we rely upon them and how diminished we’d be without them. #SaveThePost @JeffBezos," Viser wrote.
The Washington Post's building in DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Many other Washington Post employees took to X with similar messages.
The letter to Bezos and social media campaign came after an onslaught of negative information spooked employees.
The Washington Post informed staffers late Friday that it wouldn't send sports reporters to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Italy, although that decision was reportedly reversed on Monday. On Saturday, Puck's Dylan Byers reported that "massive" layoffs were coming to the Washington Post and a "rumor" is that the sports desk could be completely shuttered, and the foreign desk would also be "hit hard."
New York Times reporter Erik Wemple, a former Post media scribe, reported that the sports section was instructed not to book travel assignments for its Washington Nationals beat writers who were expected to cover the team in spring training.
The Times also reported that "foreign staff have been told explicitly that their jobs are at risk," and that they were instructed not to travel to high-risk zones as of Feb. 1, with many assuming that decisions are tied to looming cuts.
Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post. (AP)
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The Washington Post did not immediately respond to a series of questions and a request for comment.
Bezos, who purchased the paper in 2013 for $250 million, was called an "absentee owner" by former Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler last year.
"He has to be committed to it. If he's not committed to it, he should find someone else to own it," Kessler told Fox News Digital in August.
Bezos also took heat from employees in 2024 when he abruptly axed the paper's planned endorsement of Kamala Harris for the White House. The surprising decision to endorse no one for the presidency shortly before the election sparked massive subscriber losses and a slew of staff resignations.
Last year, Washington Post publisher and CEO William Lewis told staffers they should consider taking a buyout if they don't feel "aligned" with the paper's direction, which has included a revamping of the opinion section toward more championing of American values.
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Fox News Digital's Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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