The Washington Post announced on Tuesday that it will begin offering voluntary buyouts to staffers who have been at the paper for 10 years or more.
An internal memo from executive editor Matt Murray, shared to X by The New York Times’ Ben Mullin, noted that the move was “part of our ongoing newsroom transformation efforts aimed at reshaping and modernizing the newsroom for the current environment.”
The Voluntary Separation Program is open to news employees with 10 or more years on staff, as well as to all members of the video department and to all members of the copy desk and sports copy desk, Murray wrote.
He acknowledged that “reimagining the newsroom” is “disruptive and even uncomfortable.”
Murray also noted, “I want to underscore that the VSP is voluntary, and that we are fortunate we can offer enhanced packages for those who choose them.”
The package is also being offered to the entire video team and copy desks in a shift to “place greater emphasis on developing repeatable franchises and more personality-driven formats” for YouTube and other social media channels.
He said that the VSP process will take approximately two months and should be finished by the end of July.
Murray also said that he will name a print editor and welcome former Wall Street Journal deputy editor Jason Anders, whose position as managing editor of its newly created News Hub was announced earlier this month.
“With the VSP, we will no doubt see valued colleagues and friends decide to leave the Post. But as stewards of this great institution, we must all remain relentlessly focused on bringing engaging and relevant journalism to growing numbers of readers in the formats and ways they want in 2025,” Murray wrote.
He concluded his memo by saying, “This is an urgent and important task for us given the pace of technological change, the industry’s evolving landscape and the ever-present need to produce and promote strong, rigorous and independent journalism.”
The newspaper is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, whose support of Donald Trump — including nixing an editorial endorsement for Kamala Harris in October and an ad that stated “Fire Elon” in February — prompted a number of resignations.
Among those who have resigned are commentator Ruth Marcus, columnist David Shipley and tech writer Molly Roberts and Pulitzer Prize winner David Hoffman. Sally Buzbee also resigned as executive editor in June 2024.
