Micah Gelman

The high-profile exit left people inside and outside the network eager to understand the backstory. So what happened? Multiple people familiar with the matter told Status that MacFarlane had grown disillusioned with the overall direction of the network under the anti-woke warrior Weiss, who since being appointed by David Ellison in October has sought to put the venerable news outlet on better footing with Donald Trump and his administration. Specifically, MacFarlane was appalled and disheartened by the way the “CBS Evening News” marked the five-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. At CBS News, MacFarlane had spent years aggressively covering the attack on the U.S. Capitol. In fact, as recently as Monday morning, as he prepared to make his career announcement, he posted a video on YouTube calling out MAGA forces trying to “rewrite the history” of that day by disseminating “lies.” So when MacFarlane saw anchor Tony Dokoupil mark the anniversary with only a 16-second report that embraced a both sides approach to the act of violence carried out by Trump supporters on that day, he was aghast. It’s not clear whether MacFarlane made his disapproval known to Dokoupil or network leadership, but he did communicate it to some colleagues, and it became known inside the network.

You can devastate a news organization The Jeff Bezos Way, by slashing the budget in half and forcing massive layoffs.

Or you can do it The Bari Weiss Way, by steadily eroding your journalism standards, week after week, so the talented people who can leave, do leave.

Via @oliverdarcy.bsky.social

Washington Post editor Matt Murray has tried to frame the disaster as a "strategic reset" and "getting the house in order." In fact it's a strategic bomb, and the Post will be in order when every single arrogant import has cleaned out their drawers.

The Washington Post so-called leaders did not anticipate that when they made heedless, reckless, decision to cut Foreign, Local and Sports, it would lead to an exodus of people they wished to retain, but who do not wish to work for heedless reckless arrogantia.

one of the smoothest brained men I've ever met

ESPN bringing on six former Washington Post reporters Former Washington Post reporters Kent Babb, Kareem Copeland, Chuck Culpepper, Robert Klemko, Tom Schad and Ben Strauss will all join ESPN in the coming weeks.

The Washington Post top editors realized within three weeks that killing the Sports section was a "mistake," I'm told by someone who spoke with one. They are looking to hire, or hire back, six writers. Instead, this happened. www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...

It's the worst piece of business malpractice I've seen in 40 years. Matt Murray has talked about breaking even. My guess is they already realize this move accelerated losses, and may crash the plane.

Love to see fellow @syracuseup.bsky.social alums doing the right thing! Congratulations!

Congratulations! Let’s talk!

Everyone is picking over the bones

Our New Iran Correspondent | The New York Times Company

This is the kind of journalist an editor yearns for at a time like this: A Persian-fluent reporter w/ deep experience covering Iranian politics and policies.

She used to work at the Washpost.

Then Bezos dismantled the international coverage.

Now she’s at the NYT

www.nytco.com/press/our-ne...

The Washington Post will let a wire service deal with this piddling event

Our New Iran Correspondent | The New York Times Company

Once again stupidity by the WSJ b-team that hijacked the Washington Post is the NY Times’s gain - a great Iran correspondent when most needed. www.nytco.com/press/our-ne...

One worked in a Westinghouse factory in Pittsburgh building turbines for the Hoover dam (after fleeing Pogroms in Belarus) the other ran a liquor store in Atlanta

The Athletic Welcomes New Colleagues | The New York Times Company We’re excited to announce the hiring of several Washington Post journalists as The Athletic expands its coverage of the Commanders, launches a new Nationals beat and adds to its growing roster of…

How bout this for a middle-finger: entire Washington Post sports section now gone, save for 1 staffer moved to "features." The Post wanted to keep four sportswriters, but 3 of them rejected staying, instead joined raft of folks scooped by NY Times's @theathletic.com. www.nytco.com/press/the-at...

Many such cases

All I can think about is Jeff Bezos saying that he slashed jobs at the Washington Post — including those of foreign correspondents in the Middle East — based on "the data," and a few weeks later a whole war breaks out in the Middle East that these laid off folks would have covered as true experts.

I feel like my dad, born in 1946 should run in ‘28

How toxic is Scott Jennings inside CNN? @status.news has learned some producers are giving on-air talent a heads-up when he is scheduled to appear on shows, quietly offering them the option to preemptively excuse themselves rather than appear alongside him.

With respect, that’s not a scalable sell to most readers. That gets some limited subscribers, but a news organization needs to offer much more to be of value. The Post eliminated significant departments that drove readers and subscribers.

Jeff Bezos wants Americans to be as dumb as possible so they won’t ask questions about his government contracts.

As the laid off Middle East News Editor, I concur. Management eliminated the positions of every single staff correspondent and bureau chief in the Middle East.

Erin Cunningham O @erinmcunningham…... As the laid off Middle East News Editor, I concur. Management eliminated the positions of every single staff correspondent and bureau chief in the Middle East. Paul Musgrave @professormusg... • 5h I have to say the Post chose a hell of a moment to lay off all their foreign correspondents 3:39 PM • Mar 2, 2026 ® Everybody can reply

Just the dumbest newsroom decision you could make, unless you were trying to undermine your own newsroom

Donate to the @apnews.com instead

Why would anyone pay for this?

Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post offering “financial runway." This month it gutted its newsroom—more than 300 layoffs.

Whatever you think of legacy news, the hard data shows us that newspaper closures hurt Americans. Here's how: 🧵

CBS, Fox, the Washington Post, and Twitter are all owned by Trump-loving billionaires and soon CNN will be too. Here's why American media has a liberal bias problem.

Good time for Washington Post to have gutted it’s foreign coverage.

Press gave Biden far worse coverage for a small number of American soldiers dying while leaving a war than to Trump for a similar number dying while starting a war for no reason. It makes you think!

To The Hague with all of them