Democracy Underground: Shocked, Shocked! Bezos Destroys WP Climate Reporting Team – 14 Of 19 Reporters On That Beat Are Now Gone – The Washington Post produced some of America’s finest climate journalism over the last decade, aggressively covering President Trump’s regulatory rollbacks and winning a Pulitzer Prize for a series about Earth’s fastest-warming places. Alongside the New York Times and the Associated Press, I don’t think any U.S. news outlet published a greater volume of urgent, high-quality climate and clean energy coverage.
Everything changed on Wednesday morning. The Post sent layoff notices to at least 14 climate journalists, newsroom sources told me, part of a massive round of cost-cutting that will see more than 300 journalists lose their jobs — about 30% of all employees at the Jeff Bezos-owned company.
Washington Post Scales Back Climate Team as Bezos Caves to Trump – The Washington Post is drastically scaling back its climate change desk, just a little over three years after proudly tripling the size of a team of reporters, editors, data journalists, and graphic artists who quickly gained recognition as among the best in the business. The cut was part of a drastic round of budget reductions initially reported by the New York Times. … Former LA Times climate columnist Sammy Roth recalls how Bezos rose to the challenge during Trump’s first term, defending the Post’s independence and embracing its new tagline, Democracy Dies In Darkness. In the second term, he has folded. Now, “clean energy dies in darkness,” Roth headlines. “Courtesy of Jeff Bezos.” The tone was very different in December, 2022, when The Energy Mix reported on the Post’s previous, triumphant announcement. “No story is more global than climate, and we are placing reporters across the country and the world to capture it as it unfolds,” then-executive editor Sally Buzbee said at the time. “At the same time, we are reimagining climate journalism to be more visual and accessible, bringing on trusted voices and some of the world’s best visual journalists to tell stories in intimate, visceral ways that we hope will both inform and empower you.”
Washington Post fires 13 climate-change reporters this week. – To understand the activist mission of the Post, note that it fired 13 climate-change reporters and one reporter whose only job was covering “race disparity” this week.
Washington Post fires over 300 journalists as Jeff Bezos ignores correspondents’ pleas: report – The Washington Post on Wednesday announced layoffs for a third of its newsroom — including its entire sports desk – ignoring reporters’ impassioned pleas to billionaire owner Jeff Bezos. More than 300 journalists across the newsroom were impacted, with the local and international desks targeted in addition to the sports section, according to reports. … “We have concluded that the company’s structure is too rooted in a different era, when we were a dominant, local print product.”
Legal Planet: A Lot Fewer Climate Reporters at the Washington Post – The layoffs will absolutely diminish climate coverage from the Washington Post. Included in the layoffs were at least 13 reporters and editors covering climate and the environment, according to a source familiar with the cuts. … And it’s one more national outlet that is making the strategic decision to empty the desks filled by people who help write the first draft of history about human-caused climate change.
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Climate Depot’s Marc Morano comments: “Does this mean we will have fewer stories from the Post about how human hair clothing can save the Earth?! What will happen to the team of Washington Post ‘climate solution’ reporters?! The world of journalism has dramatically improved today!”
February 12, 2024
Watch: Morano on Hannity on Fox News talks of push to recycle human hair in clothes: ‘They want you to suffer like a religion for your climate sins’ – February 14, 2024 – Hannity – Fox News Channel – Broadcast February 13, 2024
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Morano: Gee, I can’t imagine why Bezos thought the Washington Post’s climate reporting was not worthy of funding anymore.
Wash Post: ‘Why Climate Change Could Ramp Up Our Sugar Intake’ – ‘Study says Americans buy more soda & ice cream as temperatures rise’ – September 12, 2025
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