“The Washington Post … should be commended for serving the purpose that the Founding Fathers saw so clearly.” —Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, 1971
“Never would I have imagined that The Washington Post would deliberately warp its own journalism.” —Washington Post newsroom editor, 2025
On February 4, the Post laid off more than a third of its staff, some 300 reporters. Seventy-two hours later, CEO and publisher Will Lewis abruptly resigned—the latest chapter in the free fall of the once-free press.
After years of gradual decline across the industry, the bloodletting in journalism began in earnest roughly two years ago. That’s when the Post, along with the Los Angeles Times, Time magazine, Sports Illustrated, Forbes, Business Insider and NBC News, laid off hundreds of staff, while hemorrhaging subscribers.
“To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful. It is as simple as that.”
The talking heads cited economics, labor issues and digitalization. But the problem lies not in balance sheets, pink sheets or technology, but in a lack of trust.
The public couldn’t be making it clearer: They no longer have faith in those charged with reporting the news. Survey after survey reveals that less than half of Americans trust the media. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that reporters rank near the bottom of professions the public trusts—just above congressmen and lobbyists, and below car salesmen. The only constant beacon of truth in journalism this century is, apparently, the Weather Channel—perhaps because it’s easiest to fact check. (Come here, Martha, let’s just open the window and look.)
As for the rest of them, well, if your GPS steers you into a tree, you use a map instead. If your surgeon takes out your bladder to solve your appendicitis, you find one who actually learned anatomy. And if your news source won’t provide you with news, you unsubscribe.
Many of us remember the Post the way it used to be: read by all, respected by many and feared by those in high places with something to hide. Its scoops and exposés called the powerful to account, asked the tough questions and kept the public informed, embodying the fourth estate’s watchdog role.
Watergate reporter Bob Woodward said it best: “Newspapers that are truly independent, like The Washington Post, can still aggressively investigate anyone or anything with no holds barred.”
But that was then. Today, the Post’s primary function is to serve as a cautionary tale of what happens when a paper stops serving its readers above all else.
This latest debacle leaves the Post without a sports desk, books section, or “Post Reports” podcast. The publication’s local and international bureaus are now downsized skeletons of their former selves.
The Post says, “These steps are designed to strengthen our footing and sharpen our focus on delivering the distinctive journalism that sets the Post apart.”
Even when reporting on itself, the Post can’t bring itself to tell the truth.
Too many once mighty platforms lost all their power when they lost sight of the true currency of journalism: trust.
Sixty-three years ago, in a simpler age of broadcast news, Edward R. Murrow put it this way: “To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful. It is as simple as that.”
It is as simple as that.
The Washington Post forgot its readers. By and by, the Post will be a distant memory, too.
