Lizzie Johnson, The Washington Post's Ukraine Correspondent, has announced that she was laid off by the outlet “in the middle of a warzone.” This comes as The Washington Post said that one-third of its staff across all departments, not just the newsroom, was being laid off.
“I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated,” Johnson wrote on X.
Johnson posted the message in response to one of her old posts, where she opened up about the difficulties she faces while working. Sharing a photo of herself working inside a car, she wrote in a January post, “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.”
Who is Lizzie Johnson?
Johnson’s Washington Post bio says she joined “the international desk from investigative, where she was a reporter on the narrative accountability team, combining the rigor of investigative reporting with the power of narrative storytelling.” She previously worked as a staff writer at The San Francisco Chronicle. The Nebraska native joined the Washington post in 2021.
{{/usCountry}}Johnson’s Washington Post bio says she joined “the international desk from investigative, where she was a reporter on the narrative accountability team, combining the rigor of investigative reporting with the power of narrative storytelling.” She previously worked as a staff writer at The San Francisco Chronicle. The Nebraska native joined the Washington post in 2021.
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“Johnson is a four-time finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists, most recently for international reporting. Her in-depth coverage of California's wildfire crisis led to her first book, 'Paradise: One Town's Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire," which was developed into the Apple film "The Lost Bus," starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera,” reads her bio.
Johnson was laid off after the Washington Post shuttered its Kyiv bureau as people battled the harshest winter since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, several staffers reported, according to The Kyiv Independent. A person familiar with the matter said that the local staff are expected to continue "in some capacity.”
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Ukraine bureau chief Siobhán O’Grady said in an X post, “It’s been the honor of my life to serve as Washington Post bureau chief in Ukraine.”
Over 300 journalists were hit by the layoffs. Executive editor Matt Murray told staff that The Washington Post would now narrow its focus to national politics, business, and health, according to the New York Times.