End of an Era: Post Layoffs Claim Watergate-Era Reporter
Martin Weil, a fixture in The Washington Post’s Metro section since 1965, was among over 300 journalists laid off in sweeping newsroom cuts announced on February 5, 2026. His 60-year tenure bridged the paper’s golden age of local dominance to its pivot toward national coverage under owner Jeff Bezos. Weil, who began in his mid-20s, reflected philosophically: “How many people can say they worked 60 years anywhere?” The thrill of print and seeing his byline in the paper never dulled for him https://csi.univr.it/blog/
Watergate and Early Days
Early in his career, Weil honed his ear on police scanners, tuning out routine static. One June 1972 night, “Doors open at the Watergate” crackled through, foreshadowing the Democratic National Convention break-in that propelled the Post to fame. (Scroll to the end of the story to know what the Watergate Scandal was about)
He checked with the city desk the next day, learning of the burglary, though colleagues like Al Lewis penned the initial front-page story. This era under publisher Katharine Graham cemented the Post’s regional supremacy, fuelled by ads from local dealerships and stores
Metro Desk Glory and Decline
Weil thrived on the night shift by choice, tweaking stories for late editions. The Metro desk once boasted 200 reporters, covering crises like September 11 (where Weil wrote on the Pentagon strike), Beltway snipers, Virginia Tech, and January 6. Crime was core: murders from single to sextuple in Prince George’s County, even one in the Post cafeteria or under the Capitol dome, plus myriad fires. He’d canvass witnesses using printed address directories, politely noting, “Did you know the fellow next door has been murdered?” as recalled by ex-editor Leonard Downie Jr.
Whimsy Amid Grit
Not all was grim; Weil filled layout gaps with poetic weather dispatches on clouds’ sociology or ‘curbside Everests’ of snow, earning fans. He’d roam the newsroom for chats before diving in. One unreported escapade: chasing a police shooting in 1972, he stumbled into an ER operating theater, earning a security threat.
Why is The Washington Post now in the news?
The Washington Post has asked almost one third of its staff to go. This includes the sports desk, the books section, and many in bureaus abroad such as in Turkey, the Middle East, Ukraine, India, South Korea, Australia. 300 reporters in the newsroom have been gutted by this action. The Executive editor Matt Murray, in a long e-mail to staff spoke to the financial challenges The Post has been facing for a while. Murray has framed it as an urgent intervention needed for reinventing journalism, the business model to build The Post for a new era – strategic reset. (Read the entire communication here)
What is the Watergate Scandal?
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States in the early 1970s that began with a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., and escalated into a wide-ranging cover-up by officials in President Richard Nixon’s administration, who was a Republican. Investigations by journalists, courts and Congress revealed that the White House had been involved in illegal activities such as spying on political opponents and obstructing justice, including attempts to conceal evidence and misuse government agencies. The scandal ultimately led to Nixon’s resignation in 1974, making him the only U.S. president to step down from office, and resulted in jail sentences for several senior officials while profoundly reshaping public trust in government.