Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray acknowledged the severe “human cost” of this month’s mass layoffs of more than 300 staffers but defended them as essential to stabilize the newspaper, position it for growth, and achieve long-term financial health.
Speaking Wednesday at Semafor’s “Restoring Trust in Media” summit in Washington, D.C., Murray said owner Jeff Bezos remains fully “committed to a long-term future for the Post.” He described Bezos as a believer in “fair news” and making information accessible to average people, not just elite audiences, emphasizing relevance and liveliness in readers’ daily lives.
"I came [to the Washington Post] to try to do what I can to help the Post grow and thrive, not to oversee a steady decline," @murraymatt tells @maxwelltani.
— Semafor (@semafor) February 25, 2026
"I'd say the reality is that the Post had been facing some decline for quite some time. The data really demonstrated… pic.twitter.com/0fPzKIEaoI
The remarks came as Murray and interim CEO Jeff D’Onofrio work to steady the organization after the deep cuts and the abrupt exit of former CEO Will Lewis shortly after the layoffs were announced. Lewis’s departure followed his appearance at a pre-Super Bowl event in California, far from the D.C. newsroom.
Murray kicked off the summit, which features other media leaders including Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner, “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie, and Knight Foundation CEO Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, amid broader industry struggles with declining public trust.