The Washington Post Guild created a GoFundMe for more than 300 journalists who were laid off at the mainstay newspaper on Wednesday morning, and said they were overwhelmed by the influx of donations from near and far.The fundraiser, overseen by economics reporter Rachel Siegel and fellow members of the Washington Post Guild, has drawn massive public support.At the time of writing, more than 4,600 people had donated upwards of USD 500,000, far exceeding the initial goal. The funds will help former staffers with “moving costs, visa expenses, childcare, healthcare, meals and more,” according to the campaign page.“What has made The Post special for so long is the people at this company. How resourceful we are. How much we care for each other. And that will continue,” the fundraiser read. In an update, Siegel said the team was “bowled over” by the outpouring of support on what she described as “an incredibly hard day.”

One-third of newsroom axed, sports desk eliminated

The sweeping cuts impacted nearly one-third of the newsroom, including the entire sports desk, a move that comes ahead of major sporting events such as the Winter Olympics and Super Bowl LX.Staffers were reportedly instructed to “stay home” and join a Zoom call at 8:30 a.m. ET regarding “significant actions across the company,” according to an internal email obtained by CNN. In a letter to employees, executive editor Matt Murray called the move “painful,” stating that the company’s structure was “too rooted in a different era, when we were a dominant, local print product.”In a strongly worded post on X, the Guild said it “vehemently opposes” the layoffs and called on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post through Nash Holdings, to step aside if he no longer supports the paper’s century-old mission.

Netizens react

The GoFundMe also triggered sharp reactions online, with several users questioning the circumstances surrounding the layoffs.One X user wrote, “While I love the camaraderie that WaPo journalists are showing one another, this mess falls squarely on @JeffBezos shoulders to get the people HIS newspaper fired home safely. People should be publicly condemning the act of stranding one’s former employees overseas.”

Another user commented, “This is astonishing to think they were fired then abandoned overseas. Unprofessional @washingtonpost at the very least, dishonourable too.”A third post read, “In America, your laid off coworkers fundraise money to get you out of a war zone that your billionaire boss left you stranded in.”The fundraiser will remain open for at least the next few days as support continues to pour in.