Top Washington Post editor Matt Murray acknowledged “a widespread sense of loss, of genuine trauma” in a contentious town hall meeting with staff on Wednesday after the company laid off nearly a third of its employees a week ago – though he expressed confidence that the Post was now on a path to success.
“There’s no doubt that just the sheer depth of the cuts – and also, with that, the reality of what we face at the Post – has been a very hard thing to wrap our heads around and to grapple with,” Murray said, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by the Guardian.
Murray, who joined the Post in 2024, said it was a “shocking discovery” for management to understand the scope of the financial problems the company is facing. But he said he did not want to “look backwards and litigate the past”.
“The company has been a mess in lots of ways for a long time, but I’m confident stars are aligning in a positive way,” he said.
Murray said Post leadership used data on readership trends to determine which areas to cut. The publication’s sports, international, local and style sections were particularly hard-hit. “I’m 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,” he said.
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’s mission, Murray said there was “no more Trump bump” these days.
“People are reading [about] Donald Trump, but they also want to escape from Donald Trump,” he said.
Amid questions about whether the publication’s mandate and ambition had shrunk, Murray said “the mission of the Post is unchanged”.
Murray played down the number of Post customers who have cancelled their subscriptions in protest against last week’s cuts. “It’s been not very heavy, and it’s been completely within predicted models and expectations, and completely baked into the plan,” he said.
Jeff D’Onofrio, 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.
“For 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,” D’Onofrio said. “This was a decision to change the scope and direction of our business.”
Seeking to reassure his assembled colleagues, D’Onofrio, who joined the Post last June as chief financial officer, said: “I need you to know that we will get to the other side of this … We are on the same team. It can’t be any other way.”
Murray faced tough questions from some longtime employees who expressed skepticism about the Post’s direction.
“I’ve not seen this place as demoralized as it is right now,” said one veteran reporter, who asked why employees should continue to believe in management. “I can’t tell you to believe in me or believe in Jeff or believe in other Jeff,” Murray responded, acknowledging it was an “essential question”.
“We’re here, we’re talking, and I have an incredible amount of faith in the masthead team,” he added.
“How 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’t even do the basics any more?” another reporter asked, mentioning errors in the print product since the cuts happened.
During the town hall, Murray did not say much about Lewis’s sudden exit after only two years on the job.
But when asked about accountability for executives who have contributed to the Post’s financial challenges, Murray noted: “We have a new CEO. You can draw whatever conclusions you want from that.”
