The Washington Post has proposed to cut hundreds of staff, amounting to one-third across the business.
In the same week, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said it would cut about 50 jobs, or 15% of staff.
Politico started 2026 by cutting 3% of staff and Future plc proposed to cut 45 editorial staff at its tech titles including Tom’s Guide and Techradar, although it is also creating 15 new roles.
Other layoffs so far this year have taken place at the Wall Street Journal, Vox Media and Bustle Digital Group.
Press Gazette’s page for rolling updates on journalism industry redundancies and layoffs in 2026 will be kept updated throughout the year.
In 2025, we found at least 3,434 journalism job cuts in the UK and US.
Journalism job cuts in 2026: Tracked
February 2026 journalism job cuts
Nexstar Media Group – At least 27 people
24 February: Layoffs have been made to on-air TV news anchors and other staff at Nexstar Media Group in recent weeks, according to multiple reports.
Los Angeles Times said “several on-air veterans” had been cut at KTLA in the city, that at least three on-air positions at New York’s WPIX have been eliminated and that 21 people at Chicago’s WGN have been cut in recent weeks including nine reporters and anchors.
The Chicago Tribune reported that WGN weekend morning anchor Sean Lewis said: “A lot of really good people lost their jobs today, and it’s a shame.”
WGN also made six news writers and three technical director positions redundant last month.
A Nexstar spokesperson said they were “taking steps necessary to compete effectively in this period of unprecedented change”.
New York Daily News – More than six people
13 February: The News Guild of New York has said 28% of its members at the Alden Global Capital-owned New York Daily News are being laid off.
The union said the cuts primarily impact the print production team, following the rollout of “generic fonts” in the paper, and the national desk, which is losing “six of its ten reporters”.
The Journalist’s Resource – Two people
13 February: The editor-in-chief and managing editor of The Journalist’s Resource are being laid off after several philanthropic funders chose not to renew their grants.
The outlet is run by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Editor-in-chief Carmen Nobel said: “The Journalist’s Resource will continue, at a smaller scale. Clark Merrefield, senior editor of economics and legal systems, will continue to produce evidence-based pieces and webinars for JR. He’ll report to Nancy Gibbs, director of the Shorenstein Center and former editor-in-chief of TIME.”
MLB.com – Unknown number
5 February: A small number of journalists have been laid off by MLB.com, the official site of Major League Baseball.
Journalist John Denton, who covered the St. Louis Cardinals, announced on X: “The media business is a tough one, but journalists still sign up for it everyday. Today is a rough one as I — and a few other colleagues — were informed by MLB that we were being laid off, effective immediately.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – 50 people
5 February: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is laying off about 50 people from its newsroom and other parts of the business, equating to about 15% of staff. About half of the cuts will come from the newsroom.
The Cox Enterprises-owned title closed its print edition at the end of 2025 after 157 years but said it had more than 100,000 digital subscribers.
President and publisher Andrew Morse said: “We’ve made these difficult decisions because we believe they will best position us to continue to accelerate the AJC’s growth.
“We have invested heavily in our editorial, product and business teams over the last three years, and we’ve seen direct results from that investment.” Editorial investment has included video, business, high school sports and politics coverage.
He added: “As we grow, we must be agile and ensure we are devoting resources where they will have the most impact for our audience.
“While these changes are difficult on a personal level, they will best position the AJC to continue delivering journalism worth paying for.”
The Washington Post – More than 300 people
4 February: The Washington Post is cutting one-third of all staff across the company including more than 300 of about 800 journalists in the newsroom.
The title is closing its sports and books departments and vastly cutting back the number of correspondents it has posted outside the US including in the Middle East and Ukraine.
The Washington-area Metro news department and editing staff face a restructure and the daily Post Reports podcast is being suspended.
Areas that will remain a focus for the title include politics, national affairs, national security, science, health, technology, climate, business, wellness, culture and investigations.
Executive editor Matt Murray told staff: “We have concluded that the company’s structure is too rooted in a different era, when we were a dominant, local print product. This restructure will help to secure our future in service of our journalistic mission and provide us stability moving forward.”
The Sun – Unknown number
4 February: Jobs have been put at risk at The Sun as it proposes to merge its features team with the Fabulous celebrity and lifestyle desk.
In an email, seen by Press Gazette, Sun editor-in-chief Victoria Newton said: “We need to future-proof the business, diversify revenue streams and meet the challenges facing all modern publishers, and I’m confident that this new proposed structure will unlock even more potential in the newsroom.”
BBC – Up to 14 roles
3 February: The BBC is proposing to close a unit dedicated to investigative journalism in the English regions less than four years after it was set up.
The BBC has also proposed to close six deputy managing editor roles in BBC Local.
The proposals have put 14 jobs at risk, although several roles are being created and the BBC hopes to avoid compulsory redundancies.
January 2026 journalism job cuts
CBS News – Unspecified number
29 January: CBS News is reportedly seeking an unknown number of voluntary buyouts from staff at CBS Evening News.
Guardian US media reporter Jeremy Barr reported that Evening News staff received an email stating: “The Evening News has a new host and a new direction, and there will be more change coming. We hope you are excited about this vision, but we understand that some of you may not be, and we want to provide support. As such, we are offering an extraordinary chance to leave CBS News with an enhanced separation payment.”
BBC – Four people
28 January: The BBC is reportedly closing BBC Trending, which publishes “original investigations and insights about the online world”.
Deadline reported the closure is expected to result in around four job losses.
Recent BBC Trending articles have included an investigation with BBC News Ukrainian into young people being recruited by Russia to attack their own country.
Context – Up to a dozen people
27 January: Thomson Reuters Foundation is proposing to close most of its news operation Context News in February.
The Baron, which reports on news relating to Reuters, said about a dozen journalists working for Context News were told about the decision.
It reported that Context News has seven journalists in overseas bureaux with the rest in London, as well as eight contractors. It said the journalists would be made redundant or redeployed where possible.
Three journalists will be kept on until the end of 2027 to work on a project funded by one donor, The Baron reported.
A spokesperson confirmed there was a “strategic reorganisation”, adding: “As part of these proposals, which would realign our services to deliver maximum value to the communities we serve, some Context staff are impacted.
“We believe these proposed changes would maximise our impact as a non-profit organisation to best meet the evolving and urgent needs of the communities with whom we work, at a time when our mission has never been more critical, and the international development sector faces huge challenges.”
Future – 45 people
26 January: Future plc has proposed to make 45 editorial redundancies at its technology titles including Tom’s Guide and Techradar.
Some 15 new roles are being created, making a net reduction in roles of 30.
A Future spokesperson told Press Gazette: “We have made the difficult decision to reduce headcount in certain areas of the business to enable greater focus on future growth areas.”
Vox Media – At least eight people
17 January: The Vox Media Union has said eight of its unionised employees (plus others) have been laid off.
The union said those affected were “three in-unit workers from Pop Sugar, two from The Verge, and three from Eater – not including a number of out-of-unit employees”. One of those affected was The Verge’s video game reporter Ash Parrish.
In a statement, the union criticised the company, saying it has “laid off workers at an average of once per quarter in the last year”.
Press Gazette is aware of at least 37 job cuts at Vox Media in 2025 – plus more than 20 that came as a result of its sale of video game site Polygon.
Bustle Digital Group – Three people
17 January – Bustle Digital Group has laid off three people as it moves away from gaming content on “superfan” website Inverse, with a fourth also deciding to leave as a result.
Video game trends writer Hayes Madsen wrote on Bluesky: “Inverse’s Gaming section is being shut down as the company ‘divests’ from gaming content. I’m out of a job along with my wonderful co-writers.”
Gaming writer Robin Bea said: “Inverse has decided to ‘divest from gaming content’ so I’m out of a job again!”
Deputy gaming editor Shannon Liao also confirmed she was “just laid off from Inverse”.
A fourth gaming journalist, Trone Dowd, was initially told he “still ha[s] a job with Inverse, though my role will be changing significantly in the weeks to come”. But he later said: “Today I decided to part ways with Inverse. I was offered an opportunity to stay. But without a plan for traditional games coverage going forward, now seems as good a time as ever to bet on myself and explore what else the future may hold.”
A former Inverse writer told Aftermath: “Management had been really telling us the last few months that numbers have been rebounding. But Inverse has always kind of been the black sheep of BDG, because we were so different from all of their other brands. Personally, I’ve always gotten the sense they just didn’t really know what to do with us, despite our numbers justifying our existence.”
Wall Street Journal – At least six people
15 January: The Wall Street Journal is carrying out a “strategic restructure” of its features and weekend teams.
WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said the title is continuing to shift from being a “print-centric organisation to a more nimble, topic-driven structure designed to serve our readers wherever they engage with us – across the site, the app, our four weekly newsprint sections and WSJ. Magazine”.
A new features team will be led by WSJ Magazine editor-in-chief Sarah Ball and will produce the four weekly sections: Mansion, Exchange, Off Duty and Review as well as Sports.
Tucker added: “Inevitably, a restructure of this scale means saying goodbye to valued friends and colleagues. I want to thank all of those departing for their dedication to the Journal.
“These newsroom changes build on our audience-first strategy. By breaking down the legacy silos of physical print sections, we are empowering our editors to produce ‘platform-agnostic’ journalism that delights and surprises our readers every day of the week.”
Update: The Status media newsletter has since reported at least six layoffs were made.
Politico – Less than 30 people
14 January: Politico has cut 3% of staff, affecting about ten people in its newsroom according to The Wrap. Semafor reported that Politico has a total global staff of around 750 people.
Editor-in-chief John Harris told staff in a memo, published by Semafor media reporter Max Tani, that to prosper in the years ahead news organisations need “a strong sense of who they are and how they deliver distinctive value to their audiences.
“Changes I believe are necessary for Politico to remain in that elite group involve a small number of separations, under generous terms, with journalists I respect and who have my gratitude for the significant contributions they have made to this place.”
Harris said Politico was also offering voluntary separation packages to the energy and E&E News teams which are merging, Politico Magazine, the central editing desk, the visuals, data and graphics team, and the interactives team.
Enterprise reporting for Politico Magazine will become part of the wider newsroom while visual journalists will be “brought into the centre of our news infrastructure”.
He said the buyout offers “are designed to give eligible colleagues a chance to reflect carefully on whether they want to remain here on teams with new structures and new mandates; they are not designed as a cost-cutting measure”.
Harris went on to say that the changes being made were “aimed at making this newsroom – especially our leadership structure, our workflow, and our news report – more tightly aligned to the publication’s strategy over the next several years. This is the only way we will have the resources to grow and respond to evolving audience needs.”
Separately Harris has been appointed chairman and a successor as editor-in-chief will be appointed this year.
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