The Washington Post has announced plans to create more than 70 newsroom jobs as it seeks to enhance its coverage of health, technology, the climate and other areas.
The expansion comes after the Post last year added 150 roles across its newsroom, which has more than 1,000 employees overall and is larger now than at any point in its history.
In an email to staff on Thursday, executive editor Sally Buzbee said the plans are based on “months of in-depth research surveying our audiences, including younger news consumers, about what they need and want from us.
“We believe this expansion will attract an even larger global audience for our journalism and deepen our engagement with that audience.”
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In December, The Wall Street Journal revealed that the Post’s digital-only subscriptions had fallen from 3m to 2.7m between January and October 2021. The Journal reported that its rival, like many other publishers, had experienced a fall in online readership after a bumper year for news in 2020.
Buzbee today said the Post is recruiting for nearly 20 new roles in “health, wellness and well-being”.
“Audience research has consistently shown that health and wellness and mental health coverage are top areas of interest to readers, and we believe this explosion in interest represents a tremendous opportunity for robust, multiplatform coverage,” Buzbee wrote.
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The Post plans to add more than 20 new staff to its climate and weather team in order to “leverage a wide variety of storytelling formats and social platforms to engage diverse audiences of all ages with journalism that is newsy, explanatory and relevant”.
In technology, the publisher plans to further expand its Help Desk, “a franchise focused on practical advice to help readers better understand and take control of the technology they use in everyday life”.
In addition, the Post will add eight new positions across the US to “focus on the political and social issues driving the nation’s conversation”.
Buzbee also wants to expand global teams, including the Post’s breaking news hubs in London and Seoul. She said: “We plan to add four positions to build out our ability to do more investigative work internationally, including an enterprise editor, a China-focused reporter, a researcher and a player/coach to help us maximize investigative partnership opportunities.”
Picture: Reuters/Gary Cameron
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