D.C. deserves better than Bezos

We are devastated about the layoffs at The Washington Post, which slash D.C. reporting, along with eliminating the books section, the sports section, and gutting foreign coverage.

These journalists are an incalculable loss for our city at a time when our streets are still occupied by the National Guard, Republican legislators continue to take aim at home rule, and as we gear up for the most consequential election season in decades. 

We aren’t going to pretend we alone can fill this void — at least, not yet. The Washington Post has the resources to employ dozens of local journalists, to fund large-scale investigations, and to cover the entire metro area. We have just four full-time employees, a year-and-a-half of publishing under our belt, and we are funded almost entirely by subscriptions and donations from readers like you. 

But we have something else: We’re a newsroom that Jeff Bezos can’t destroy. Executives at The Post made a strategic decision to abandon D.C. — covering our city wasn’t profitable enough for them, and a free press threatens the political aims of the powerful. We might still be small, but we can promise you that we exist solely for you, the people of D.C.

And we have big ambitions: to be D.C.’s go-to source for local news, one that residents across the city feel represented by. It’s a mission that has always felt urgent, but one that we now know needs to kick into high gear — the District deserves local news that makes people’s lives better. 

But we cannot do it alone. That’s where you come in. The Washington Post has lost over 375,000 subscribers in just over a year. If only 10% of those readers subscribed to The 51st instead, we could hire 10 reporters and five editors, dramatically scaling our coverage of the city at this critical time. 

We won’t pretend this isn’t a scary time, for journalism and for our city. But as billionaires destroy beloved institutions, it’s our job to build new ones. We hope you’ll join us.

P.S. This is also a chance to take a big swing. Do you want to create local journalism jobs? Or know someone who has the money to? We want to be the place to do it. Please reach out.