Washington Post plans major newsroom cuts, shifts coverage focus

The Washington Post’s leadership is expected to announce significant layoffs in the newsroom and the business sides of the paper in the coming days, according to three people with direct knowledge of the changes. Signs of the shift include fewer reporters being sent to the Super Bowl, foreign correspondents being asked to hold off on trips to conflict zones and editors being encouraged to experiment with new forms of storytelling.

The cuts appear aimed not only at reducing losses but at reorienting coverage. Sports, local and international sections are preparing to take a disproportionate share of the pain, while video journalists and reporters and editors focused on politics and national security are expected to become more central to the company’s future, one of the people said.

Executives devised their approach after studying digital traffic to the organization’s coverage, the person said; the hope, the person added, is that the moves will help make the paper self-sustaining, a goal set by its owner, Jeff Bezos. The company has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years.

The newsroom, including many editors, remains largely in the dark on specifics and on the long-term plan for the organization. Last year The Post completed a round of buyouts that trimmed the newsroom by dozens of journalists, and many reporters have grown frustrated about the lack of clarity from Mr.

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