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There’s no shortage of dispiriting news, but Wednesday’s gutting of the Washington Post staff was particularly lousy. The blunt force removal of more than 300 newsroom jobs, or about 30% of the staff, was best typified by the decision to fire reporter Lizzie Johnson while she was in an active war zone, enduring freezing temperatures.
(The actual need for cost-cutting at an organization owned by one of the five richest people on the planet – a person who reportedly increased his wealth by $50 billion since 2024 – is not an argument I’m capable of entertaining in a family newspaper.)
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As it becomes more difficult for people to access timely, well-reported news instead of algorithm-fueled distractions on our phones, cuts like these affect us all. The more challenging it is to know what’s happening in the world or your neighborhood, the easier it is for things to go awry, misdeeds to go unnoticed, and people to feel powerless to do anything at all about it.
As this is our place for book talk, I wanted to note that, along with sports and many other valuable staffers at the paper, the Post completely scrapped its book section and dispensed an entire team known for great work and intelligent coverage.
Over the years, I’ve corresponded with Post book people, and in my experience, they were all you’d hope them to be: smart, funny, friendly and helpful. It’s rotten that readers of the paper won’t get to hear from reviewers Ron Charles, Becca Rothfeld and Michael Dirda (the latter of whom used to do a charmingly low-tech book chat years ago in which he’d diligently answer questions and suggest books every week).
And you deserve to know the name of Books Editor John Williams if you don’t already. He elevated the book coverage at the New York Times when he was there, and you felt his absence after he left to join the Post, which flourished under his watch.
If you’re reading this, you love books, so please do what you can to support coverage of them, whether signing up for a subscription here (for $1 a year) or donating to a podcast or a TikTok or a newsletter you like. (You can find Ron Charles on Substack now).
It doesn’t have to be this newsletter, but support the things you enjoy, so that it’s that much harder to make the things you care about disappear.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
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On Wednesday, I ventured out to one of the Pasadena Literary Alliance’s Open Book events, which took place at the Lineage Performing Arts Center.
After an opening reception, the event moved into the theater where TV comedy writer and novelist Kashana Cauley, author of “The Payback” and “The Survivalists,” spoke with Irene Marquette about her comedy heroes, working at malls, and writing prescient novels that seem to anticipate current events.
“My husband wants me to predict more uplifting futures,” joked Cauley.
For more information, check out the group’s website.
Last year, I wrote about the Book Industry Charitable Foundation, or BINC, and the good work that they do providing financial support to bookstores – as they did locally following the Palisades and Eaton wildfires.
Now, BINC and Libro.fm are teaming up to help bookstores in Minnesota. From Feb. 10-12, one hundred percent of proceeds from the following audiobooks will directly benefit BINC: “When You Are Mine” by Kennedy Ryan; “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid; “The Tattered Cover” by Ellery Adams; “Lessons in Magic and Disaster” by Charlie Jane Anders.
For more information, go to the BINC website or Libro.fm.