Owen Auston-Babcock

NEW: Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray says the paper will be closing its sports department in its current form and plans to cover it as a "cultural phenomenon." “We plan to retain several reporters to join features” and cover sports through there, he tells staff

Can we talk seriously and unemotionally for a sec about the Washington Post layoffs? The Post has, what, a dozen sales people? To fund hundreds of reporters all over the world? NYT has a legit sales army. There's your problem, in a nutshell. To be clear, everybody now knows Will Lewis sucks at building a news business, but Marty did too! So did Fred. They are all mediocre clowns completely outta their depths. Fact is: Pulitzers don't pay the bills for a newsroom. Subscribers do. I subscribe to the Post to support their immigration reporting, even though I beat them all the time. Sidebar: I beat them all the time but do they subscribe to me? Two do, but the rest don't even have the sense to watch the competition eating their lunch. But whatever. I've been listening to Washington Post reporters bitch about their jobs since I was washing their dishes. I have watched management like fuckin Marty fire my over-performing friends for doing the right thing. Now we're at another round of layoffs. I don't know anyone who got the axe. I wish them well but news ain't an industry for softies. You better grind to compete with me, because I'm hungry, talented, and with deeper sources than anyone you got. For those of you still at the Post, I suggest you get to know your sales team. Understand their challenges. Know your newsroom's cash flow. These are instincts. independent press like me have to learn to survive. That's why Migrant Insider doesn't do news awards or panel discussions or any other hippie bullshit that doesn't pay the bills. Press can't say "it's not about me" then fuss over the meaningless fringe benefits of an institutional brand. You got to be a news breaker and a hype machine and a sales force for your own work. You gotta watch the competition and enforce your brand and business. You gotta partner with outlets that are bigger than you and lift up promising colleagues who bang out on their news beat every fuckin day. For those who did get the ax, I'm here to help. To be clear I'm not your therapist. I don't give a shit if you feel you've been wronged. But if you've got a news product to sell, I can tell you how I sold mine. I'm not going to connect you with advertisers or sponsors or partners, I can tell you what it takes to get on their radar, stay on their radar, and add value for the dollars they spend while maintaining your ethics. Do it your own way. Or quit altogether. Up to you. Your time in the esteemed ivory tower of Washington news is over. Now you got to drag yourself up from the gutter, one way or another. Many of you will launch on Substack; most of you will fail. But if you want to chat, stop by my art studio in Blagden for a parlay. Beyond that, best of luck to you.

Waking up without power, heat, or running water. (Again.) But the work here in Kyiv continues. Warming up in the car, writing in pencil — pen ink freezes — by headlamp. Despite how difficult this job can be, I am proud to be a foreign correspondent at The Washington Post.