• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

The WaPo Extinction Event

The Washington Post cuts, which could affect as many as 300 employees, according to sources, are the culmination of a two-year effort by C.E.O. Will Lewis to fundamentally transform the paper and reverse hundreds of millions in annual losses. In that effort, Lewis has decided to focus the Post’s editorial investment on a few core coverage areas—national security, politics, etcetera—and not sports.

Will Lewis
Lewis has decided to focus the Post’s editorial investment on a few core coverage areas—national security, politics, etcetera—while all but abandoning full-time coverage of topics where the paper doesn’t see adequate demand. Unfortunately, that includes sports. Photo: Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post/Getty Images
John Ourand
&
Dylan Byers
January 26, 2026

Join Puck to listen to this article

The new year is always a packed time on the sports calendar. Three of the four major North American pro leagues are in the thick of their seasons, with pro and college football playoffs reaching fever pitches. This year, there are the looming Milan- and Cortina-hosted Winter Olympics for good measure. And yet, for the past few weeks, Washington Post readers have been watching the paper’s Sports section—a regional point of pride that helped launch the national careers of figures like Michael Wilbon, Tony Kornheiser, David DuPree, Richard Justice, Dave Kindred, Christine Brennan, Sally Jenkins, David Aldridge, Ken Denlinger, and more—collapse in real time.