by Peter Weinberger

On Wednesday, February 4, The Washington Post did something that would have been almost unthinkable a few years ago: it laid off roughly a third of its workforce in a sweeping “reset” that reached deep into the institution’s identity.

This wasn’t framed as a temporary belt-tightening. It was described by Post leadership as a strategic reinvention — a response to changing reader habits and a brutal business reality. Reuters reported that the Post lost about $100 million in 2023 and has faced declining circulation and other pressures, with management describing a need to return to financial stability.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: when a newsroom as storied and resourced as The Washington Post takes an axe to sports, books, and foreign coverage, it’s not just “another media layoff story”; it’s an admission that the old package — big footprint, broad coverage, high fixed costs — is getting harder to sustain even for brands with national reach, deep talent benches, and billionaire ownership.

And the Post is not alone in wrestling with the same set of structural forces.

Why this keeps happening

The easy explanation is “advertising is down” or “people don’t subscribe.” Both are true, but incomplete.

What’s really changed is a middle layer of the news business has been hollowed out.

For years, most journalism (including the Courier) depended on online distribution systems newsrooms did not control: search, social media, and platform algorithms. When they deliver traffic, you can grow. When they change, you can’t “report harder” to fix it. The audience disappears first, then the revenue, then the staffing.

The Post’s own leadership and critics have been blunt that product choices and strategy also play a role — and Reuters noted intense internal conflict over direction and trust, including the subscriber hit after decisions like not endorsing a presidential candidate in 2024.

More pressure on publishers

There’s also a second, newer pressure: generative AI and “answer” products that reduce the need for a reader to click through to a news website. You can argue about whether that’s good for consumers. For publishers, the impact is simpler: fewer visits, fewer ad impressions, and fewer opportunities to convert casual readers into paying supporters.

The Courier’s secret sauce are the subscribers who pay for subscriptions, year after year, donate generously, and support a newspaper that is immune to digital forces we cannot control. We have created a hybrid format of nonprofit print and digital local journalism. And even through all our trials and tribulations, we have adapted enough to play an important role for our readers.

Put those together and you get today’s “reset logic”: shrink expensive beats, reduce broader coverage, streamline desks, and concentrate on coverage that is distinct, defensible, and likely to persuade someone to pay. Don’t underestimate this pull for publishers who stare at revenue and expense numbers colored red.

That’s what the Post layoffs represent: an attempt to narrow to what management believes is most “essential,” because the broad model is no longer reliably fundable at Post scale. I’ve had to make these choices and it’s heartbreaking.

So what does this have to do with Claremont?

Everything — because when larger institutions pull back, the public doesn’t stop needing information. The need migrates.

Here’s the local impact, plain and simple:

• More gaps in coverage create more opportunity for the outlets that remain. When national and regional shops narrow their footprint, smaller cities and neighborhoods get less attention. That can be frustrating — but it also makes truly local reporting more valuable, not less.
• Public media instability will change audience habits. If local audio/podcast ecosystems shrink, some of that audience will look for written local reporting that is consistent and dependable, especially during emergencies, which are on the rise.
• The trust premium rises. In a chaotic information environment, “I know who reported this, I know where they live, I know they’ll correct it if it’s wrong” becomes a competitive advantage. That’s something a community newsroom can offer more credibly than a distant brand.
• Misinformation fills the vacuum faster. When fewer credible outlets are present, rumors spread quicker on social media — and corrections arrive late (or never).
• Local businesses need targeted, but also trusted reach. As big media leans harder on cheap, broad digital ads, community outlets can stand out by offering advertisers an audience that actually lives and spends here.

That said, the definition of “here” is expanding for the Courier.

The Washington Post layoffs feel far away — a D.C. story about a national institution. But the meaning is local: the era of assuming “someone else will cover it” is ending.

If the public wants verified, fact-based information about schools, development, and public safety — it’s going to come from the newsrooms that still show up, week after week, meeting after meeting. And in 2026, “showing up” is the product. The business model has to be built around that reality, because the outside world is not going to save local news by accident.

I will be outlining a business model for 2026 that focuses on adapting to the constant change in the news media landscape. What have we learned? Courier content has an increasing amount of interest to those outside the city limits of Claremont.