The Associated Press laid off 20 U.S.-based journalists in a round of cuts Friday meant to restructure the desk around the organization’s proposed pivot away from print to visual news.
“This is part of the restructuring we announced last month to align our operations with what our top customers need from us today,” Patrick Maks, an AP spokesman and director of media relations and corporate communications, said in a statement. “It’s never easy to part ways with valued colleagues — we are appreciative of their contributions to the AP and wish them all the best.”
The 20-head figure was shared later Friday by the AP News Guild on X, which lambasted the cuts as indicative of “just how directionless AP leadership has become.”
“Layoffs included U.S. news, photographers, investigations, business and sports across 12 states,” the union’s statement read. “Meanwhile, AP has found plenty of resources to outsource video production jobs to India, away from video staff in the U.S. and elsewhere.”
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— AP News Guild (@APNewsGuild) May 15, 2026
The Guild is outraged at these changes. Today’s cuts show just how directionless AP leadership has become. pic.twitter.com/xiA5mlrvlY
Friday’s layoffs came a month after the legacy news organization proposed its intent to downsize and offered buyouts to more than 120 journalists working the United States. According to AP News and its guild, about 40 accepted the offer. Additional layoffs were expected but not formally announced by leadership until Friday morning, according to members of the guild.
“Today’s cuts show just how directionless AP’s leadership has become,” Kimberlee Kruesi, the guild’s acting president, said in a statement. “The company touts that it is prioritizing visual journalism, yet among the 20 employees sacked today are experienced photographers.”
When news of the buyouts first broke last month, AP’s executive editor and SVP Julie Pace (pictured above) shared in an interview that the organization’s goal was to reduce staff by less than 5%, in part to better reflect the contemporary news business.
“We’re not a newspaper company and we haven’t been for quite some time,” Pace said at the time, later adding: “The AP is not in trouble. We’re making these changes from a position of strength but we’re doing so now to recognize our changing customer base.”
