New Delhi: The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, on Wednesday fired 300 journalists, more than one-third of its newsroom strength.
One of those laid off was Shashi Tharoor’s son Ishaan Tharoor.
Ishaan posted a picture, likely to be of the newsroom, which shows a poster which reads ‘Democracy Dies in Darkness’ was displayed. His post, captioned ‘A bad day’, was reshared by his father on X.
In another post, Ishaan said he was “heartbroken” over the Washington Post’s move.
“I have been laid off today from The Washington Post, along with most of the International staff and so many other wonderful colleagues. I’m heartbroken for our newsroom and especially for the peerless journalists who served the Post internationally — editors and correspondents who have been my friends and collaborators for almost 12 years. It’s been an honour to work with them,” Ishaan wrote.
“I launched the WorldView column in January 2017 to help readers better understand the world and America’s place in it and I’m grateful for the half a million loyal subscribers who tuned into the column several times a week over the years,” he added.
‘Perverse act of self-immolation’
Ishaan’s father Shashi slammed Washington Post’s ‘bizarre’ move.
The senior Congress leader pointed out that Ishaan’s column had more than half a million subscribers and a significant global readership.
“The bizarre thing about this so-called ‘business decision’ by The Washington Post is that Ishaan Tharoor’s column flourished on the Internet, where he had 500,000 (half a million plus!) individual subscribers for his ‘Worldview’ newsletter. I’ve met Foreign Ministers, diplomats and scholars around the world who read him daily. One could have forgiven The Post for trying to monetise that kind of reach, but to abolish it instead seems a perverse act of self-immolation,” stated the Thiruvananthapuram MP.
Major job cut
In one of the heaviest workforce reductions in The Washington Post’s nearly 150-year history, the news outlet laid off roughly one-third of its employees, sending shockwaves through the journalism world.
Matt Murray, executive editor of The Washington Post, described the decision as painful but necessary to put the outlet on a better path and to adapt to shifts in technology and reader behaviour.
“We can’t be everything to everyone,” Murray said in a note to staff members, Associated Press reported.
The job cuts were across the international, editing, metro and sports desks.
The move comes days after the newspaper, founded in 1877, reduced its coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics amid continued financial losses, Reuters reported.
Bezos acquired the newspaper in 2013, buying it from the Graham family for $250 million.
