Kyle Cave

Staff Writer

On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off about one-third of its staff. Entire sections of the paper were completely wiped away, including the sports section.

The layoffs of these journalists pose one big question: How many more outlets are next?

In recent years, journalism has been a struggling field, especially for local papers. Massive layoffs have been happening in local news sectors for the past couple of years. We see the rise of a phenomenon known as “news deserts.”

A news desert is a community that no longer has a daily newspaper in its area. In these latest rounds of layoffs, entire foreign bureaus were laid off, including correspondents covering wars in Ukraine, Gaza and the ongoing deadly protests in Iran. Of course, there are other outlets to cover these, but taking journalists out of any conflict zone is a devastating blow.

The media industry is one of the hardest industries to get into if you want to be a reporter. It often requires years of hard work to even get an entry-level position.

Once you finally get that position, it’s the best feeling in the world. Many of these journalists who were laid off by The Post covered news for the paper for many years. And then one day, their dream job and career is stripped.

Some reactions to the laying off of these journalists have been to “start a Substack” or “just start a podcast.” Of course, we are in a media environment where social media and podcasts often dominate the information field. However, it is not easy to do these things.

Making a Substack or podcast often starts you from scratch. You don’t have the support of your colleagues every day, you don’t have the resources a bigger company can give you at ready, and these require a lot of time and money journalists may not have. Journalists also have to make a living; it can be very hard to make a living.

The advantage of working for a company is that you can work with the company to craft your stories and work with a team to make them as good as possible. Doing that all by yourself is not as easy as it sounds or may not even be feasible.

Independent journalists are a vital part of journalism and do amazing work. Unfortunately, it’s extremely difficult to do on your own unless you already have a big following.

The layoffs at The Washington Post could set a chilling precedent for the future. The message is simple: if hard times arise, layoffs are the answer. Of course, layoffs happen not just in the media industry, but we are also in a time where journalism is facing pressure from influential figures that could persuade firings or massive layoffs.

Journalism has survived many eras, including McCarthyism and the rise of the internet. It is extremely resilient, but we have to remember that journalism is only resilient when journalists can report without restrictions or pressure.

The story of The Washington Post layoffs could be the story of many other journalists at other media outlets. The agonizing part about this is that we don’t know who’s next. The best thing journalists can at this moment is keep reporting. Journalists have a vital role in society of holding power to account.