---
title: "Washington Post implements mass layoffs"
description: "☀️ Happy Thursday! The Briefing is your guide to the world of news and information. Sign up here! In today’s email: 🔥 Featured story The Washington Post announced sweeping layoffs on Wednesday, eliminating around one-third of its staff. Its sports, local and foreign desks were among the hardest hit.  Executive Editor Matt Murray described the cuts as necessary for the stability of the company, citing a steep decline in online traffic amid the […]"
date: "2026-02-05"
authors:
  - name: "jhaner"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/newsletter/the-briefing/washington-post-implements-mass-layoffs/"
---

# Washington Post implements mass layoffs

**☀️ Happy Thursday!** *The Briefing is your guide to the world of news and information*.* [**Sign up here!**](https://www.pewresearch.org/sign-up-for-the-briefing/)*

**In today*’*s email:**

- **Featured story:** Washington Post implements mass layoffs

- **New from Pew Research Center:** How do young adults get their news?

- **In other news:** Independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort arrested

- **Looking ahead:** Axios and OpenAI to expand local news partnership

- **Chart of the week:** Americans more negative than positive about AI’s impact on news

🔥 **Featured story**

**The Washington Post** [announced sweeping layoffs](https://apnews.com/article/washington-post-staff-reduction-layoffs-cuts-923f87d4bd319c8a64b278165d0a6e27) on Wednesday, **eliminating around one-third of its staff.** Its sports, local and foreign desks were among the hardest hit.

Executive Editor Matt Murray described the cuts as **necessary for the stability of the company, **citing a [steep decline in online traffic](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/business/media/washington-post-layoffs.html) amid the rise of generative artificial intelligence, among other factors. Meanwhile, many employees and former leaders at the paper **condemned the layoffs,** with some further criticizing [decisions made by owner Jeff Bezos](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/how-jeff-bezos-brought-down-the-washington-post).

According to a [Pew Research Center survey conducted in March 2025](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/feature/news-media-tracker/the_washington_post), **12% of all U.S. adults regularly get news from The Washington Post, **including 7% of Republicans and 18% of Democrats.

🚨 **New from Pew Research Center**

A [new short video](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2026/02/02/video-how-do-young-adults-get-their-news/) from the [Pew-Knight Initiative](https://www.pewresearch.org/collections/pew-knight-initiative/), based on a [data essay](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2025/12/03/young-adults-and-the-future-of-news/) we released in December, examines the **news habits of young U.S. adults** and how they compare to those of older generations.

📌 **In other news**

- Independent journalists **Don Lemon **and **Georgia Fort **face federal charges after covering [anti-ICE protest at Minneapolis church](https://apnews.com/article/don-lemon-arrest-minnesota-church-service-d3091fe3d1e37100a7c46573667eb85c)

- **Atlanta Journal-Constitution** [to lay off 50 employees](https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/atlanta-journal-constitution-to-lay-off-about-50-employees-as-it-restructures-for-growth/)

- After recent concerns about political content suppression on **TikTok, **[researchers find no evidence of censorship](https://www.npr.org/2026/02/04/nx-s1-5701409/tiktok-censorship-report-epstein)

- [TikTok settles lawsuit](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/technology/tiktok-settlement-social-media-addiction-lawsuit.html?partner=slack&smid=sl-share) over **social media addiction, **avoiding trial

- How **right-leaning influencers** are responding to [Trump’s backpedaling of immigration enforcement actions in Minneapolis](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/style/maga-trump-base-minnesota.html)

- **Dan Bongino **[returns to podcasting](https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/02/bongino-podcast-return-trump-00760561) after his stint as FBI deputy director

- Recently launched **California Post** [sets its sights on Gov. Gavin Newsom](https://www.semafor.com/article/02/01/2026/its-rupe-vs-the-quiff-in-californias-new-tabloid-war-everybody-wins)

- [Ad lobby looks to protect publishers](https://www.axios.com/2026/02/02/iab-ai-accountability-publishers-act) from **AI scraping**

- **CBS News to cut ties with contributor** after [links to Jeffrey Epstein are revealed](https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/cbs-news-expected-sever-ties-with-contributor-attia-over-epstein-links-wrap-2026-02-02/)

📅 **Looking ahead**

**Axios **and **OpenAI **are [growing their local news partnership](https://www.axios.com/press-past-releases/axios-openai-expand-partnership-to-scale-local-news), with plans to launch nine new local newsletters and expand to more communities. **ChatGPT **gets about [1 million prompts about local news](https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/chatgpt-is-asked-about-local-news-1-million-times-per-week-openai-says/) per week, according to OpenAI, and the company has said it wants to “move into the future alongside publishers, as partners, building an ecosystem where AI innovation and high-quality, independent journalism reinforce each other.”

A growing share of Americans are using AI chatbots in their daily lives, but chatbots have not become a source of news for most people, [according to a 2025 Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/10/01/relatively-few-americans-are-getting-news-from-ai-chatbots-like-chatgpt/). About one-in-ten U.S. adults say they often (2%) or sometimes (7%) get news from AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini. **Most Americans (75%) say they never get news from AI chatbots.**

📊 **Chart of the week**

This week’s chart comes from a [2024 Pew Research Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/04/28/americans-largely-foresee-ai-having-negative-effects-on-news-journalists/) that asked Americans **how they think AI will impact news. **About half expect AI will have a very (24%) or somewhat (26%) negative impact on the news people get in the U.S. over the next 20 years. Just 10% think AI will have a very (2%) or somewhat (8%) positive impact in this area.

![A horizontal stacked bar chart showing that Americans are far more negative than positive about AI’s long-term impact on the news people get.](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/SR_25.04.28_ai-in-news_1.png?w=640)

*👋 That's all for this week. *

The Briefing is compiled by Pew Research Center staff, including Naomi Forman-Katz, Christopher St. Aubin, Emily Tomasik, Joanne Haner, and Sawyer Reed. It is edited by Michael Lipka and copy edited by Anna Jackson.

*Do you like this newsletter? Email us at [journalism@pewresearch.org](mailto:journalism@pewresearch.org) or fill out this [two-question survey](https://us1.list-manage.com/survey?u=434f5d1199912232d416897e4&id=449f3c3d35&attribution=false) to tell us what you think*.