The Washington Post’s mega-billionaire owner Jeff Bezos is reportedly set to unleash painful job cuts at the newspaper, but staffers are being encouraged to appeal to an even higher power in hopes of saving their jobs — his wife.
The union representing staffers at the Washington Post is urging its membership to tag both Bezos and his glamorous spouse Lauren Sánchez in social media posts in hopes of getting their attention, according to the Status newsletter.
“If you’re comfortable, please tag Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez, sources with large followings — anyone who might be able to amplify our message and make sure it reaches those who need to hear it,” the Washington-Baltimore News Guild told its membership in an email obtained by Status.
As of Tuesday, no Washington Post employees tagged Sánchez on their posts.
The guild’s official social media accounts had also not tagged her.
Newsroom employees are feeling a sense of urgency in light of anticipated layoffs which could impact more than 100 colleagues and may be announced as soon as next month.
The cuts are likely to hit the sports, metro and foreign desks the hardest — with some reports suggesting that the Washington Post may do away with its sports section entirely after it cancelled plans to send a contingent of reporters to the Winter Olympics in Italy next month.
The situation is so dire that some Washington Post staffers have even raised the possibility of enlisting A-list celebrities to their cause, including award-winning actors Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, Status reported.
Hanks, who recorded a Super Bowl commercial for the newspaper in 2019, portrayed the late executive editor Ben Bradlee and Streep played publisher Katharine Graham in the 2017 film “The Post,” which was directed by Steven Spielberg.
She began her career as a desk assistant in Los Angeles before rising to on-air roles as an anchor and reporter in Phoenix, then returning to Southern California to work for outlets including KCOP-TV and Fox 11.
Sánchez later gained national exposure as a reporter and anchor for Extra and Fox Sports Net, earning Emmy recognition along the way and becoming a familiar face across entertainment, sports and news programming.
In recent years, she has largely shifted her focus to aviation, entrepreneurship and philanthropy.
Earlier this week, several of the newspaper’s foreign-based journalists pleaded with Bezos on social media to halt the planned job cuts — signing their messages with the hashtag #SaveThePost.
Siobhán O’Grady, the Washington Post’s Ukraine-based correspondent, wrote on X: “Hi @JeffBezos. We will never forget your support for our essential work documenting the war in Ukraine, which still rages. Your wife has called our team ‘badass beacons of hope.’ We risk our lives for the stories our readers demand. Please believe in us and #SaveThePost.”
“@JeffBezos I cover international security for @washingtonpost and reported on ISIS, Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, Al-Qaeda, Iran, and Israel,” wrote international correspondent Souad Mekhennet.
“I’ve been imprisoned, lived under threats, and escaped kidnappings to do this work. #Journalism matters to America and the world. #SaveThePost.”
The Post has sought comment from the Guild, Washington Post, Bezos, Sánchez, Hanks and Streep.
