The Washington Post is &#8220;bleeding talent,&#8221; with a number of longtime employees — from veteran opinion columnists to the obituary section chief — accepting buyout offers that the Jeff Bezos-owned outlet extended to staff in late May.
Early in July, Washington Post CEO Will Lewis sent an email to staffers suggesting that they might especially want to consider the buyouts if they &#8220;do not feel aligned with the company&#8217;s plan&#8221; to reinvent itself.
Among the changes explicitly mentioned by Lewis was a shift in the opinion section to &#8220;champion timeless American values&#8221; and to &#8220;reconnect&#8221; with the audience in a way that rekindled trust.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Will Lewis emails the Washington Post staff, encouraging those who &#8220;do not feel aligned&#8221; with the company&#8217;s future plans to consider the buyout offer. <a href="https://t.co/b3a7w6HbuB">pic.twitter.com/b3a7w6HbuB</a>
— Ben Mullin (@BenMullin) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenMullin/status/1943049108064993285?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
In the days since Lewis sent that email, several big names have announced their plans to depart The Washington Post — including political reporter Dan Balz, obituary section chief <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/07/24/washington-post-jeff-bezos-obituary-buyout-00473350">Adam Bernstein</a>, reporter Philip Bump, as well as columnists David von Drehle, <a href="https://x.com/crampell/status/1948096670253605297">Catherine Rampell</a>, and <a href="https://www.the-independent.com/travel/americas/washington-post-exodus-jonathan-capehart-buyout-bezos-b2793184.html">Jonathan Capehart</a>. The Post&#8217;s original TikTok pioneer, Dave Jorgenson, legal reporter Ann Marimow, and sports writer Dan Steinberg also took the buyout.
Reporter Joe Davidson says he left after being told that one of his opinion columns was &#8220;too opinionated.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s just an absolute exodus,&#8221; one staffer told Politico of the buyouts, saying that no one was certain whether there was a plan in place to compensate for the vast amount of experience and expertise that was on its way out the door.
Watching the turmoil from the outside, Poynter News wondered: &#8220;How much longer can The Washington Post bleed talent?&#8221;
The turmoil at the Post — and, indeed, the high-profile exits — did not begin with the buyouts offered in May. Rather, the unrest within the organization dates back at least to the resignation of Executive Editor <a href="https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2024/why-sally-buzbees-resign-what-next-washington-post/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sally Buzbee</a> in June 2024. Buzbee left, according to several sources, because she was not on board with the new organizational structure Lewis planned to introduce.
A slew of resignations followed the outlet&#8217;s shock decision <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/all-hell-breaks-loose-after-washington-post-declines-to-endorse-kamala">not to endorse</a> former Vice President Kamala Harris. A statement from the Editorial Board read in part, &#8220;The Washington Post will not be making an endorsement of a presidential candidate in this election. Nor in any future presidential election. We are returning to our roots of not endorsing presidential candidates.&#8221;
In the months that followed, longtime columnist Jennifer Rubin left the outlet — followed by <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/jonathan-capehart-leaves-washington-post-buyout/">opinion editor</a> David Shipley and columnist Ruth Marcus.
And while a number of those who left The Washington Post have started or plan to start their own independent ventures — Rubin and Jorgenson, for example — some have been snapped up by other major outlets, including The Athletic, The Atlantic, Reuters, and The New York Times.
The full impact of the buyouts, which reportedly targeted employees who had been with the outlet for 10 years or longer, remains to be seen. The offer is available to employees until the end of July.

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‘Absolute Exodus’: Washington Post ‘Bleeds Talent’ As Experienced Staffers Take Buyout

'Absolute Exodus': The Washington Post 'Bleeds Talent' As Experienced Staffers Soak Up Buyout Offer

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According to a Reuters <a href="https://archive.is/lUgfe">report</a>, Disney is preparing to conduct mass layoffs that will affect hundreds of employees across various departments, including film and TV, publicity, casting, development, and corporate finance.
Reps for the entertainment company have declined to comment, and no exact numbers have been released yet.
This is just the latest in a series of layoffs over recent years. Disney laid off nearly 200 television and ABC News operations employees earlier this year after cutting ABC News and local station staff in October. In September 2024, an additional 300 people were let go, per <a href="https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/disney-mass-layoffs-tv-film-finance-departments-1236415786/">Variety</a>.
Disney cut 7,000 jobs in 2023 alone as it tried to save $5.5 billion in costs, Reuters reported.
During layoffs in 2023, company CEO Bob Iger said, “There will no doubt be challenges ahead as we continue building the structures and functions that will enable us to be successful moving forward.”
“In tough moments, we must always do what is required to ensure Disney can continue delivering exceptional entertainment to audiences and guests around the world, now, and long into the future,” he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/disney-will-begin-mass-layoffs-this-week-ceo-announces">continued</a>.
Critics are quick to point out that Disney has had several big-budget flops recently, including the latest disaster, “Snow White.” The live-action remake is estimated to have cost the company approximately $115 million, based on a $410 million budget, including marketing, but it only earned a worldwide box office gross of $194.7 million. 
The film had multiple controversies, including a total change to the storyline and controversial statements made by Rachel Zegler, the actress playing the titular role. 
Many fans blame Disney’s downfall on increasingly leftist messaging, which Iger addressed during a shareholder meeting last April. When asked about Disney&#8217;s &#8220;wokeness,&#8221; the exec <a href="https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/disney-bob-iger-slams-ron-desantis-disney-florida-1235571743/">replied</a>, &#8220;I&#8217;m sensitive to that.&#8221;
&#8220;Our primary mission needs to be to entertain and then through our entertainment to continue to have a positive impact on the world. And I&#8217;m very serious about that. It should not be agenda-driven,&#8221; Iger added.

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A U.S. District judge has <a href="https://www.nteu.org/~/media/Files/nteu/docs/public/2025/Mass%20Firing%20TRO%20Denied">rebuffed an effort</a> by labor unions representing federal workers to block President Donald Trump’s layoffs of federal employees.
The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), the National Federation of Federal Employees, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, and the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agriculture Implement Workers of America employees sued Trump on February 12, claiming that Trump’s executive actions laying off workers violated constitutional separation-of-powers principles “because they undermine Congress’ authority to set and fund the missions of federal agencies.” They demanded a temporary restraining order.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that his court would deny the unions the relief they sought because it “likely lacks subject matter jurisdiction to hear their claims.” He added, “The claims must instead be brought before the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute.”
The FLRA is a three-member agency responsible for handling federal labor disputes. “The FLRA is an independent administrative federal agency that administers the labor-management relations program for 2.1 million non-postal federal employees worldwide,” the agency notes on its <a href="applewebdata://93BF6EE8-F13D-469F-9E84-A074F2335552/v">website</a>.
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“NTEU contends that no meaningful judicial review is available to it because it will suffer irremediable financial harm and loss of bargaining power in the interim,” Cooper noted. “But NTEU will be able to seek ‘meaningful review,’ as the D.C. Circuit has interpreted it, via the statutory scheme.”
“NTEU appears to suggest that the constitutional challenges it brings are not of the type appropriately resolved under the statutory scheme,” he continued. “But absent any challenge to the very FLRA procedures it wishes to circumvent, NTEU’s constitutional claims do not defeat preclusion.”
“NTEU argues that the firings at issue are so numerous that they will overwhelm the FLRA, thereby foreclosing, or at least forestalling, any meaningful review,” he wrote. “But NTEU provides no reason why it could not seek relief from the FLRA on behalf of a class of plaintiffs and admits that it would ask other agencies to follow an administrative judge’s ruling in its favor.”
“Plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction is denied,” he concluded.

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<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/chris-wallace" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chris Wallace</a> announced he’s leaving CNN after three years and looking for independent platforms like streaming or podcasting for his next job amid reports of layoffs coming to the network for many of its biggest stars.
Speaking with The Daily Beast, the 77-year-old broadcaster <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/broadcaster-chris-wallace-quits-cnn-to-build-future-in-streaming-or-podcasting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that he has “nothing but positive things to say. CNN has been very good to me. This is the first time in 55 years I‘ve been between jobs.&#8221;
&#8220;I am actually excited and liberated by that,&#8221; Wallace said, noting that podcasting is “where the action seems to be.”
&#8220;Not knowing is part of the challenge,” he added. “I‘m waiting to see what comes over the transom. It might be something that I haven’t thought of at all.”
Wallace&#8217;s career spans several networks over half a century, including his previous stop at Fox News for 18 years, The Hollywood Reporter <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/chris-wallace-leaving-cnn-after-3-years-1236058831/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>.
The departure of the news man &#8212; who anchors &#8220;The Chris Wallace Show&#8221; on Saturday mornings and &#8220;Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?&#8221; &#8212; comes at the end of his three-year, $8.5 million a year contract.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH’S ‘AM I RACIST?’ NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a>
CNN CEO and Chairman Mark Thompson said in a statement, “Chris Wallace is one of the most respected political journalists in the news business with a unique track record across radio, print, broadcast television, cable television and streaming. We want to thank him for the dedication and wisdom he’s brought to all his work at CNN and to wish him the very best for the future.”
News of the longtime journalist&#8217;s departures comes amid a report from <a href="https://puck.news/cnns-existential-post-election-season/">Puck</a> that the network is reportedly looking to “axe top stars in layoffs that&#8217;ll see hundreds fired as ratings continue to tank.”
While the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14073063/CNN-layoffs-election-ratings-firings.html?ns_mchannel=rss&amp;ns_campaign=1490&amp;ito=social-twitter_dailymailus">report notes</a> that there’s no mention of who’s getting axed, CNN’s on-air stars like Anderson Cooper, Jake Tapper, Kaitlan Collins, and Erin Burnett could be on the list, the outlet noted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
JUST IN: CNN will be firing hundreds of employees including some of their top stars according to Puck News.
The news comes as CNN&#8217;s Chris Wallace says he is not returning after his contract expires.
&#8220;In the next few months, I’m told, CNN will implement another round of layoffs… <a href="https://t.co/oHn9uJVNL9">pic.twitter.com/oHn9uJVNL9</a>
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href="https://twitter.com/CollinRugg/status/1856396923323797607?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2024</a></blockquote>
“In the next few months, I’m told, CNN will implement another round of layoffs that will impact hundreds of employees across the organization,&#8221; reporter Dylan Byers &#8212; who previously worked for CNN &#8212; wrote.
“Redundant assignments will be nixed, and various divisions will be reduced or even eliminated,” he added, noting that on-air workers will be “asked to assume more of the responsibilities once handled by teams of producers and production assistants.”
Following President-elect Donald Trump’s landslide victory, networks like MSNBC and CNN have seen ratings plummet, as previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/msnbc-and-cnn-ratings-plummet-following-trumps-landslide-victory">reported</a>.
According to Nielsen data, the viewership on MSNBC on Thursday, analyzing Trump’s win, brought in a total of 596,000 viewers — and in the coveted age demographic of ages 25-54, a total of 71,000 viewers, <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/news/just-in-msnbc-ratings-crater-on-friday-as-viewers-tune-out-post-election-coverage/">Mediaite reported</a>.
Over on CNN, coverage of Trump’s election victory throughout the day on Thursday brought in 419,000 total viewers, and in the key age demographic, just 91,000 viewers.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/msnbc-and-cnn-ratings-plummet-following-trumps-landslide-victory" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MSNBC And CNN Ratings Plummet Following Trump’s Landslide Victory</a>

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‘Absolute Exodus’: Washington Post ‘Bleeds Talent’ As Experienced Staffers Take Buyout

Disney Layoffs Will Affect Hundreds Of Employees In TV, Film, Corporate Finance: Report

Judge Rebuffs Labor Unions’ Effort To Block Trump Laying Off Federal Workers

Chris Wallace Announces He’s Leaving CNN Amid Reports Of Layoffs At Network