Claire Parker

independent journalist reporting from around the Mediterranean. former Cairo bureau chief @washingtonpost ✍️[email protected]

[Claire Parker @cparker_reports]

@SamOnTheRoad Yep

[Claire Parker @cparker_reports]

Relatives of protesters killed in Daraa in 2011 celebrate outside the Damascus courtroom where senior Assad-era security officer Atef Najib was just sentenced to death in the first trial in Syria’s transitional justice process.

[The Associated Press @AP]

BREAKING: Explosions heard in Tehran as Israel's defense minister confirms Israel has attacked Iran. https://t.co/qvw0AsN9Wz

[Daniel Estrin @DanielEstrin]

The @washingtonpost laid off most of its foreign correspondents last week, including some of the last American and Western journalists working in authoritarian countries.

I spoke with outgoing Post journalists @MiriamABerger @cairo_claire1 @FrancescaEbel

https://t.co/5FM8klGrP7

[Claire Parker @cparker_reports]

The thing about data is that it’s malleable, and it reflects decisions by newsroom leadership about what to put in front of consumers. For months, international coverage was rarely featured on the homepage and was buried or not included in the Post’s top newsletters. Our traffic plummeted. Was this used to justify cutting nearly all of us?

[Dylan Byers @DylanByers]

NEW Jeff Bezos statement:

“The Post has an essential journalistic mission and an extraordinary opportunity. Each and every day our readers give us a roadmap to success. The data tells us what is valuable and where to focus. Jeff [D’Onofrio], along with Matt [Murray] and Adam [O’Neal], are positioned to lead The Post into an exciting and thriving next chapter.”

[Francesca Ebel @FrancescaEbel]

Have been too shattered to write this but for the sake of clarity — I have also been laid off by the Post. I was one of the few journalists still working inside Russia. My last story went on the front page and featured rare testimonies from wounded soldiers criticizing the war.

[Washington Post Guild @PostGuild]

Will Lewis’s exit is long overdue. His legacy will be the attempted destruction of a great American journalism institution. But it's not too late to save The Post. Jeff Bezos must immediately rescind these layoffs or sell the paper to someone willing to invest in its future.

[Claire Parker @cparker_reports]

Overwhelmed and grateful for the many messages of support I’ve received in the past 24 hours. I am lucky to be on a US union contract with good protections, but many of my international colleagues are not. The company is retaining some as contractors for now but we don’t know for how long. If you’d like to donate to support them, some folks still with the paper have organized this fundraising drive: https://t.co/8wLS3kanJx

[Marissa J. Lang ✍️ @Marissa_Jae]

My colleague Marty Weil is one of The Post’s last living ties to Watergate. He’s covered stories that range from local crime to the Sept. 11 attacks to whimsical weather musings.

After 60 years, he was laid off yesterday by email. https://t.co/NZaorQXUcD

[Kareem Fahim @kfahim]

A last trip to Syria for the Washington Post that ended with a layoff. Will miss wonderful friends and fierce, fearless colleagues in the Middle East and beyond. You should hire them all.

[Jenna Johnson @Jenna_DC]

"The power of the Post has always been its pulsing humanity, the zippy teamwork that has allowed each individual to produce something so much greater than they could have achieved on their own," @AshleyRParker so heartbreakingly writes. https://t.co/wf6o1kk600

[Rebecca Tan @rebtanhs]

Having Alan as an editor and mentor changed the course of my career. I will be grateful for a lifetime

[Lizzie Johnson @lizziejohnsonnn]

I was just laid off by The Washington Post in the middle of a warzone. I have no words. I'm devastated.

[Claire Parker @cparker_reports]

@hcjewell @dongrahamdc1 @TaylorLorenz Thanks Hannah, and thank you @dongrahamdc1 🙏 Don, you’ve been such a wonderful champion of us correspondents and our work, thank you.

[Cate Brown @catebrown12]

Peter Finn is the best among us.

Raising a glass to the Post’s international desk today.

[Peter Baker @peterbakernyt]

No struggling newspaper ever saved itself by becoming a worse and less essential product. But what's happening today at the @washingtonpost is not just the latest devastating contraction of the news industry; it's the gutting of an American institution vital for a healthy society

[Claire Parker @cparker_reports]

Laid off from the Washington Post, along with the entire roster of Middle East correspondents and our editors. Hard to understand the logic. But I am grateful for my incredible colleagues, whose grit and dedication to the reporting and each other I will miss dearly.

[Ben Mullin @BenMullin]

A staggering statement from former Washington Post editor Marty Baron: "This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations."

[Claire Parker @cparker_reports]

With mass layoffs expected to target the local, sports and international sections at the Post this week, @PostGuild has organized a letter-writing campaign for readers to write to Jeff Bezos and our executives in defense of the paper and maintaining these coverage areas. Join in here: https://t.co/WrmR3ERv7l

[Washington Post Guild @PostGuild]

It takes all of us to make The Washington Post. Every section works together to create this authoritative, entertaining, worldwide news report.

So, @JeffBezos: #SaveThePost.