In the town hall meeting, Fred Ryan said that the organisation plans to eliminate single-digit percentage of Post’s workforce. AFP
The publisher and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Washington Post Fred Ryan, at a town hall meeting on Wednesday, astounded employees by announcing job cuts in the organisation.
The Washington Post guild released a video of Ryan leaving the meeting without answering questions posed by some of his employees. The newspaper’s guild described the event saying, “Our publisher dropped a bombshell on us by announcing more layoffs and then walking out, refusing to answer any of our questions.”
In the town hall meeting, Ryan said that the organisation plans to eliminate a single-digit percentage of Post’s workforce by 2023 which could mean about 250 people would lose their jobs across the paper.
After the meeting was over the management said in a statement that there would be no net reduction in the number of staff and the changes are being introduced to “put our business in the best position for future growth.”
Fred Ryan told CNN, “The newspaper cannot keep spending on initiatives that no longer align with readers’ interests.”
He further ensured that the new design would not shrink the total size of the newsroom in 2023, adding that it might even grow as the publication will invest more in other divisions.
Kathy Baird, the chief communications officer at The Post said, “We are planning to direct our resources and invest in coverage, products, and people in service of providing high value to our subscribers and new audiences.
“As a result, a number of positions will be eliminated. We anticipate it will be a single-digit percentage of our employee base, and we will finalize those plans over the coming weeks,” she added.
Fred Ryan refuses to answer questions
The video shows employees of The Washington Post trying to get answers from their employer Fred Ryan.
As employees demanded answers from Ryan saying, “You should answer them (our questions) because we’re a news organisation that values transparency and this is our only opportunity.”
To this, the CEO replied, “No, you have multiple opportunities as representative of The Guild – we have reps seated from The Post you meet every week and you’re meeting them tomorrow.”
Another employer asked, “Fred, you talked about positions getting eliminated. What are you going to do to protect people’s jobs?”
“We’ll have more information as we move forward,” said Ryan as he left the meeting hall.
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