An unusual energy infused the “Save the Post” rally outside the Washington Post building Thursday: The publication had laid off a third of its newsroom the day before, so anger and sadness were more present than optimism. The Post’s newsroom union organized the rally, and signs everywhere blamed Jeff Bezos, the Post’s billionaire owner who, like Post Publisher Will Lewis, has yet to make any public comment about the bloodletting. Many of those signs toyed with “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” the goofy slogan Bezos imposed on the Post when he appeared to care about its prospects. “Bezos Is the Dark,” one read. “And You, Jeff Bezos, Turned Off the Lights,” another said.
The crowd easily filled the sidewalk in front of the building and spilled out to block the service road on K Street, Northwest, where DC cops stood by watching. Speakers led chants of “Save the Post!” and “Bring back Sports!”—just one of the sections eliminated.
Margaret McKenna Adams, who’s subscribed since she moved to DC 20 years ago, swung by on her lunch break to show support. The Post’s cultural coverage, hard hit by the layoffs, was “the beating heart” of the area, she said. “We are not just politics.”
Some recently laid-off employees showed up. One showed me the email they’d received the day before from Wayne Connell, the Post’s chief human resources officer who once wrote an unusual email to employees about whether people on a lower floor of the newsroom would be able to see up people skirts. The subject line of this missive read, “Important: Your Role Is Eliminated by Today’s Workforce Reductions.” Others told me how their badges were deactivated immediately and they were told they could make an appointment to return on a weekend to collect their belongings.
People who’d made it through the layoffs seemed just as lost as those who’d had their lives disrupted by layoffs whose logic had not yet been shared with them. “It’s not too late,” some people chanted before the rally broke up and staffers and recent non-staffers exchanged best wishes and hugs. The sentiment felt a bit quaint.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
