From Watchdogs to Mouthpieces: Washington Post and the Wreckage of Legacy Media
9th February 2026
HAVING JUST SUFFERED another 300 newsroom layoffs, the closure of sections and bureaus, the exodus of many of its most venerable journalists, and the “moral infirmity” — in the words of a former editor — of transforming its editorial page into a Trumpist mouthpiece, The Washington Post is a dead newspaper walking.
It is far from alone in the graveyard.
In the US, most newspaper chains are controlled by hedge funds milking them dry, or by billionaires — The Post’s Jeff Bezos or the Los Angeles Times’ Patrick Soon-Shiong — harpooning their souls.