Journalists at The Washington Post are considering enlisting two of Hollywood’s biggest stars in a coordinated effort to persuade the paper’s billionaire owner not to slash jobs at the title.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought the newspaper in 2013 from the storied Graham family, promising to uphold the journalistic values that helped the Post break the Watergate scandal and win dozens of Pulitzer Prizes.
But now, reports indicate that roughly 300 staff members could lose their jobs, including many overseas employees and potentially the entire sports desk, representing some of the deepest cuts the paper has ever faced.
As Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez, mingled with Hollywood’s elite at Paris Fashion Week—attending shows for Schiaparelli and Dior—Post staffers were quietly plotting ways to reach their seemingly distracted owner.
Internal Slack messages obtained by Status reveal discussions ranging from direct appeals to enlisting celebrity allies, including Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep—who famously portrayed Post leaders Ben Bradlee and Katharine Graham in the 2017 film The Post. Hanks has also previously promoted the newspaper in a Super Bowl advertisement.
It is unclear whether Hanks or Streep were contacted directly, but a Monday evening Guild email, obtained by Status, encouraged staff to publicly tag Bezos—and, notably, Sánchez, a former journalist—to amplify their concerns. “If you’re comfortable, please tag Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez, sources with large followings—anyone who might be able to amplify our message and make sure it reaches those who need to hear it,” the email read.
The effort has helped spur the hashtag #SavethePost, adopted by multiple reporters appealing to Bezos and Post publisher Will Lewis to demonstrate support for the newsroom and the future of the paper’s journalism.
CNN media analyst Brian Stelter posted on X on Monday that a senior Post reporter had said “there’s now a strong sense” across the newsroom “that neither Jeff Bezos nor Will Lewis are serious, good-faith stewards of The Washington Post.”
Ex-Post reporter writer Paul Farhi said on X the impending job loses could impact up to 300 staff members.
He said the cuts “will fall most heavily on sports and foreign staff. But cuts *will* include non-newsroom (ie., business) personnel. So cuts will not *solely* affect newsroom. Lotta pain, but spread across entire company.”
Other journalists implored Bezos to remember the Post’s signature slogan, which he quoted in 2016 when he said, “I’ve always believed…that democracy dies in darkness" before adding that “certain institutions have a very important role in making sure that there is light.”
Ukraine bureau chief Siobhán O’Grady tagged Bezos in an X post, saying, “We will never forget your support for our essential work documenting the war in Ukraine, which still rages.”
She added, “Your wife has called our team ‘badass beacons of hope.’ We risk our lives for the stories our readers demand. Please believe in us and #SaveThePost.”
Samantha Schmidt, the paper’s Mexico bureau chief, said the Post’s international reporters “risk our safety to investigate authoritarian governments” and said their “on-the-ground reporting is more critical than ever.”
The paper’s Berlin bureau chief Loveday Morris, a veteran of conflicts in the Middle East, added, “Today a source warned me that my reporting lines could have me killed. Just an average day as a foreign correspondent. I can’t count the number of times I’ve come under fire or had windows rattle from blasts. Our international staff risk so much to bring home news.”
The Post’s international security correspondent, Souad Mekhennet, also tagged Bezos as she recalled her reporting on ISIS, Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, al-Qaeda, Iran, and Israel. “I’ve been imprisoned, lived under threats, and escaped kidnappings to do this work,” she wrote. “Journalism matters to America and the world. #SaveThePost"
The Daily Beast has contacted The Washington Post and reps for Bezos for comment.
President Trump has praised the MAGA makeover of the Post by his new friend Bezos, who donated $1 million to his inauguration fund. Amazon also bankrolled the upcoming documentary on Melania Trump to the tune of $75 million, with Bezos personally ordering executives to support the film at public screenings amid fears of protests and empty theaters.
“A guy like Bezos, I’ve gotten to know him, and I think he’s trying to do a real job,” Trump said last March. “Jeff Bezos is trying to do a real job with The Washington Post, and that wasn’t happening before.”
