\n<\/p>\n
Top Washington Post editor Matt Murray acknowledged \u201ca widespread sense of loss, of genuine trauma\u201d in a contentious town hall meeting with staff on Wednesday after the company laid off nearly a third of its employees a week ago \u2013 though he expressed confidence that the Post was now on a path to success.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that just the sheer depth of the cuts \u2013 and also, with that, the reality of what we face at the Post \u2013 has been a very hard thing to wrap our heads around and to grapple with,\u201d Murray said, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by the Guardian.<\/p>\n
Murray, who joined the Post in 2024, said it was a \u201cshocking discovery\u201d for management to understand the scope of the financial problems the company is facing. But he said he did not want to \u201clook backwards and litigate the past\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe company has been a mess in lots of ways for a long time, but I\u2019m confident stars are aligning in a positive way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Murray said Post leadership used data on readership trends to determine which areas to cut. The publication\u2019s sports, international, local and style sections were particularly hard-hit. \u201cI\u2019m sure we got some things wrong, but if I look around the room with everybody here, I know we got a lot of things right,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While the Post achieved historic success during the first Trump administration, as reporters broke scoops and readers signed up in droves to support the publication\u2019s mission, Murray said there was \u201cno more Trump bump\u201d these days.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are reading [about] Donald Trump, but they also want to escape from Donald Trump,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Amid questions about whether the publication\u2019s mandate and ambition had shrunk, Murray said \u201cthe mission of the Post is unchanged\u201d.<\/p>\n
Murray played down the number of Post customers who have cancelled their subscriptions in protest against last week\u2019s cuts. \u201cIt\u2019s been not very heavy, and it\u2019s been completely within predicted models and expectations, and completely baked into the plan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Jeff D\u2019Onofrio, who was named acting publisher by the owner, Jeff Bezos, after Will Lewis abruptly resigned on Saturday night, introduced himself to employees and addressed the aftermath of the layoffs.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the past five years, the Post has not directly addressed deeply rooted problems, turning an eye at our revenue downturn and staying our course despite shifting traffic and user habits,\u201d D\u2019Onofrio said. \u201cThis was a decision to change the scope and direction of our business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seeking to reassure his assembled colleagues, D\u2019Onofrio, who joined the Post last June as chief financial officer, said: \u201cI need you to know that we will get to the other side of this \u2026 We are on the same team. It can\u2019t be any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murray faced tough questions from some longtime employees who expressed skepticism about the Post\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve not seen this place as demoralized as it is right now,\u201d said one veteran reporter, who asked why employees should continue to believe in management. \u201cI can\u2019t tell you to believe in me or believe in Jeff or believe in other Jeff,\u201d Murray responded, acknowledging it was an \u201cessential question\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here, we\u2019re talking, and I have an incredible amount of faith in the masthead team,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow are we possibly supposed to move forward when we are demonstrating to the people we are begging to give us their money every day that we can\u2019t even do the basics any more?\u201d another reporter asked, mentioning errors in the print product since the cuts happened.<\/p>\n
During the town hall, Murray did not say much about Lewis\u2019s sudden exit after only two years on the job.<\/p>\n
But when asked about accountability for executives who have contributed to the Post\u2019s financial challenges, Murray noted: \u201cWe have a new CEO. You can draw whatever conclusions you want from that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Top Washington Post editor Matt Murray acknowledged \u201ca widespread sense of loss, of genuine trauma\u201d in a contentious town hall meeting with staff on Wednesday after the company laid off nearly a third of its employees a week ago \u2013 though he expressed confidence that the Post was now on a path to success. \u201cThere\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[16900,3523,14304,4058,1472,1105,2114,5118],"class_list":{"0":"post-44301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-acknowledges","9":"tag-editor","10":"tag-genuine","11":"tag-layoffs","12":"tag-mass","13":"tag-post","14":"tag-trauma","15":"tag-washington"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}