NEW DELHI, India — Ishaan Tharoor, a senior international affairs columnist and son of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, was among the journalists laid off by The Washington Post in what is being described as one of the most extensive newsroom job cuts in recent media history.
The Jeff Bezos-owned newspaper reduced nearly one-third of its workforce on Wednesday as part of a sweeping restructuring that included shutting down its sports desk and scaling back several international bureaus, according to reports.
Tharoor confirmed his departure on social media, saying he was “heartbroken” by the decision and for the impact on his colleagues. He had been associated with the newspaper for nearly 12 years.
“I have been laid off today from the @washingtonpost, along with most of the International staff and so many other wonderful colleagues. I’m heartbroken for our newsroom and especially for the peerless journalists who served the Post internationally — editors and correspondents who have been my friends and collaborators for almost 12 years. It’s been an honour to work with them,” he wrote in a post on X.
Tharoor also reflected on the launch of his WorldView column in 2017, which focused on global affairs and U.S. foreign policy.
“I launched the WorldView column in January 2017 to help readers better understand the world and America’s place in it and I’m grateful for the half a million loyal subscribers who tuned into the column several times a week over the years,” he said.
In a separate post, Tharoor shared what appeared to be an image from inside the newsroom showing a poster with the newspaper’s well-known slogan, “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” He captioned the image, “A bad day.” The post was later reshared by his father.
According to reports from the newspaper and employee unions, the layoffs affected roughly one-third of the Post’s overall workforce. While the company has not disclosed an exact figure, union representatives said hundreds of newsroom employees were among those let go.
The job cuts reportedly spanned multiple departments and were not limited to a single unit. Editorial teams affected included international reporting, metro coverage, editing desks, sports journalism, and culture-related coverage.
Founded in 1877, The Washington Post grew from a local newspaper into a nationally and internationally recognized institution. Its investigative reporting during the Watergate scandal, led by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, remains one of the most significant moments in modern American journalism.
Under longtime editor Ben Bradlee, the newspaper’s Style section also became known for acclaimed feature writing. For decades, the Post’s strong presence in sports, culture, books, and foreign reporting helped shape its identity, making the closure and downsizing of several of these sections a major shift in the publication’s direction. (Source: IANS)
