What The Washington Post’s Cuts Mean for the Middle East
A loss for Middle East journalism and a blow to holding American leaders to account
Nearly a week after one of the biggest culls in modern journalism history, those of us covering the Middle East are still reeling from The Washington Post’s layoffs.
The paper’s decision to decimate its foreign desk and axe of its Middle East desk saw the firing of several incredible, inspiring journalists. To name a few: Louisa Loveluck, Claire Parker, Mustafa Salim.
But the impact of WaPo’s cuts is more than the loss of tens of top-notch foreign correspondents.
The cuts also obliterated a deep network of hundreds of talented local journalists who worked with The Washington Post in arenas from Afghanistan to Algeria—fearless journalists who risked their lives to tell their nations’ stories.
Now these local journalists are without an economic lifeline and the greater protection working for The Washington Post provided them.
The landscape of Middle East journalism is suddenly reduced, the stories told limited.
What I Learned at The Washington Post
The Washington Post layoffs affected me professionally and personally. I wrote at The Washington Post for several years as a special correspondent from the Middle East, covering the Arab Spring, the Syrian war and the rise of ISIS.
What always struck me was the deep pool of talent and decades of experience that went into every story, with reporters and contributors across the region, in every city you could imagine. One short, 300-words news story could have as many as six reporters contributing.
This breadth of expertise and presence broke exclusives and challenged Washington’s narrative on what America was doing in a war-torn region.
Never had I seen journalism challenge and shape foreign policy like I did in our work in the Middle East. From Afghanistan to Syria, Egypt to Libya, American policy was being checked in real-time.
In the first Trump Administration, The Washington Post dug deep into the president’s business dealings in the Middle East, profiling and interviewing the sheikhs, businessmen and warlords who had entered or attempted to enter his orbit.
Through my time at The Washington Post, I learned to be relentless and question everything. When I made a call saying I was from “The Washington Post,” Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers took the call. I worked with Pulitzer Prize-winning Post journalists like Kevin Sullivan.
But perhaps The Post’s most impressive work was after I left; in recent years The Post reporters held America’s allies to account.
The Post was relentless in its coverage of Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman’s rise to power, the Yemen war and Saudi’s killing of Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. It fearlessly covered Emirati activity in the region.
Since Oct. 7 2023 and the Israel-Hamas war, the Post consistently challenged Israeli government and military narratives in Gaza, from chronicling the killing of six-year-old Hind Rajeb and the paramedics sent to rescue her to Israel’s targeting of journalists. The Post was a finalist for the Pulitzer for this work.
One Less Check on Presidential Power
The loss of The Washington Post’s Middle East desk is more than just a blow to journalism; it is the loss of a check on American power—particularly executive power—in a region in which America continues to spend treasure and troops at unimaginable levels with little oversight, impacting millions of lives in the region.
It is the loss of a voice calling out non-state actors and dictators killing dissenters, abusing populations, conducting massacres and stealing resources.
Even should The Washington Post one day change course, its presence cannot be rebuilt.
The idea of only covering the hot news today is self-defeating; you have no idea where the next crisis will hit or what war may loom.
In order to adequately report a global story when it breaks, you need years of presence, networks, sources and goodwill in the specific region and country. You need to invest in foreign coverage now for it to pull through when it matters tomorrow.
At the turn of the century, this lack of knowledge and networks in the Middle East helped the US dive head-first into two forever wars 25 years ago. These wars led to a heavy investment in Middle East coverage by legacy papers such as The Washington Post and The New York times.
Since then, I have been around long enough to see the Middle East seize global news cycles four times in two decades: the Iraq War, the Arab Spring, ISIS and Gaza. With borders still ill-defined and powers looking to make gains, it will only be a matter of time before the region grabs headlines again.
Yet the next time a major crisis hits the Middle East, our English-language coverage will be thinner, our knowledge less.
The gutting of The Washington Post leaves a gaping hole in Middle East coverage and a depleted American foreign correspondent landscape at a time of upheaval and transition.
The US may be on the brink of war with Iran. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are now competing for the region and, along with Turkey, Qatar, and Israel, are looking to shape the new Middle East.
And yet there are now only three American newspapers left with Middle East desks: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Christian Science Monitor.
(a special shout-out to LA Times, whose Middle East bureau chief Nabih Bulous excellently covers everything in the region and is a one-man show)
CS Monitor: Independent News for Independent Thinkers
This brings me to The Christian Science Monitor.
An independent media outlet, 0% corporate owned, we at The Monitor are following a clear mission: to bring calm to chaos and understanding to a world in upheaval.
As other newspapers cut back, The Monitor is stepping up.
The Monitor has recently undergone a revamp: more news stories throughout the day, a refreshed and timely Weekly magazine with a global perspective, an improved website, a new App on the way this Spring.
The paper is doubling down and investing both in its national and international desks amid economic uncertainty in the industry.
Our Middle East desk of five reporters has a combined century of experience and the full backing of our leadership. Our team includes a full-time Gaza correspondent in Gaza, rare among major media outlets.
Our foreign desk includes two-dozen correspondents from Moscow to Beijing.
By devoting more resources to breaking news, the seven-time Pulitzer winning publication is going back to its roots and mission-statement by founder Mary Baker Eddy “To injure no man, but to bless mankind.”
CS Monitor strives to be a one-stop place for news that informs but does not overwhelm, that inspires but does not incite. It is an American publication with a global perspective—an increasing rarity in our media landscape.
There is no replacing the important work and presence of The Washington Post. The footprint it leaves behind in the Middle East is crater-sized. But in its wake, CS Monitor offers a pathway for us to follow and understand this region.
It is time to support The Monitor and other American newspapers covering the region to continue this vital work.
The health of our democracy and the peoples of the Middle East depend upon it.