At Bezos's Washington Post, Democracy May Still Die in Darkness, But Journalism is Dying in Daylight
And climate journalism even more so...
In 2020, the Washington Post won what I think was the first Pulitzer Prize awarded for climate change coverage. Chris Mooney was one of the lead reporters in that impressive “2°C: Beyond the Limit” series.
I wouldn’t expect a repeat achievement at the Post any time soon.
Under Jeff Bezos’s ownership, the Post newsroom is imploding, with 300 journalism positions eliminated today, according to The New York Times and others.
Sammy Roth has posted on the profound cuts to what had become a very large climate news team:
The Post sent layoff notices to at least 14 climate journalists, newsroom sources told me, part of a massive round of cost-cutting that will see more than 300 journalists lose their jobs — about 30% of all employees at the Jeff Bezos-owned company.
The climate team layoffs include eight writer/reporters, an editor and several video, data and graphics journalists, I’m told.
Also here on Substack, BY GLENN KESSLER, the longtime “The Fact Checker” editor and chief writer at the Post, has written a biting critique of this move, which acnkowledges the financial challenge but excoriates the boss:
When Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post in 2013, his net worth was about $25 billion. Now, as he prepares to order devastating layoffs at the newspaper, his net worth is about $250 billion — even after giving one-quarter of his Amazon shares to his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott.
Bezos is a businessman, and the Washington Post is not a charity, so I understand the inclination to demand that losses be stemmed. The newsroom should be able to stand on its own feet. But even if the losses are still around $100 million a year — the figure announced a couple of years ago — for a person of Bezos’ wealth, that would mean he’d have to close the place in…2,500 years.
I don’t think the layoffs have much to do with saving money. Amazon, after all, just spent $75 million buying and promoting a documentary about Melania Trump. It’s about power and influence in Donald Trump’s second term.
…Bezos appears to have embraced a crude calculus: laying off staff and trimming the sails of a once-great news organization sends a message to an audience of one at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, even if the decision ruins the lives of scores of talented reporters and editors.
The Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes, who quit the Post in January 2025 and moved her pen to Substack, hasn’t weighed in afresh, but this cartoon of hers from one year ago makes the point beautifully, and awfully:
I worked with Harry Stevens briefly on an article about clean electricity, https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/clean-energy-electricity-sources/ , when he was at the Washington Post. He moved to the NYTimes about a year ago. I don't know if he was pushed out or saw the writing on the wall. Either way, I'm glad he landed on his feet.