When Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post more than a decade ago, journalists inside and outside the newsroom were cautiously optimistic. But those hopes were dashed on Wednesday, when the paper carried out widespread layoffs.Erik Wemple, who covered the developments, discusses what went wrong and what comes next.Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/erik-wemple" target="_blank">Erik Wemple</a>, who reports on the media business for The New York Times.Background reading: <ul><li>The Washington Post <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/business/media/washington-post-layoffs.html" target="_blank">lays off more than 300 journalists</a>.</li><li>As part of the layoffs, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/business/media/washington-post-layoffs-sports-section.html" target="_blank">The Post eliminated its sports section</a>, one of the last bastions of great sportswriting.</li></ul>Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated PressFor more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily</a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 
Subscribe today at <a href="http://nytimes.com/podcasts">nytimes.com/podcasts</a> or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher">https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher</a>. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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