Fired reporter claims that his layoff from Washington Post was a budget cut – it was purely ideological and race-driven

Emmanuel Felton, a journalist who covered race and ethnicity for The Washington Post, was among the hundreds of staffers laid off this week, following weeks of turmoil. Felton, who joined the Post in June 2021, claimed in a post on X, that his firing wasn’t a financial move, as stated by the media company; it was purely ideological.

Felton pointed out that he learned about his layoff just six months after management stated in a national meeting that their coverage of race actually drives subscriptions. He added that the only other reporter on his team covering race was also laid off, as was the editor in charge of race coverage across the national desk. If the paper is saying the coverage makes money, then cutting the entire team certainly looks like a philosophical shift, not a budget cut. 

According to Fox News, after his firing, Felton updated his social media profile to describe himself as the “first and last race and ethnicity reporter” at the paper. Felton believes the team covering America outside of Washington D.C. is now a staggering “90% [W]hite.” A reality that seems to reflect JD Vance’s views.

This seems to be much bigger than just The Washington Post

Following the 2020 protests that sparked national conversations about race, many legacy media organizations heavily invested in specialized race-based news coverage. However, since President Trump’s political comeback, many of these outlets have been rolling back or completely eliminating that kind of reporting.

Take, for example, NBC News, which cut roughly 7-8% of its news staff in October. Insiders revealed that among those who lost their jobs were staffers focused on “diversity verticals.”  These teams populated the cultural subsections of the news site to provide “stories, issues and opinions”  from the community’s perspective.

Around the same time, CNS News dismantled its entire Race & Culture Unit as part of widespread layoffs across its parent company. Interestingly, one former associate producer from that unit took to TikTok to accuse the network of making race-based layoffs, claiming he and his Black colleagues were dismissed while White staffers remained employed.

The print world hasn’t been immune either. In 2024, the Los Angeles Times cut about 23% of its staff, including reporters, columnists, and editors of the paper’s Latino-centric vertical. Similarly, The Pennsylvania Inquirer eliminated its Communities and Engagement Desk last March. That desk was dedicated to covering marginalized communities and was a centerpiece of the paper’s DEI initiatives, which, unlike the desk, is still alive. 

Even specialized newsletters are facing the axe. Politico suspended its newsletter focused on “How race and identity are shaping politics, policy and power” after a four-year run, while Bloomberg halted its “Equality” newsletter last year. If you look at all these moves together, it certainly seems like Felton might have a point- that this is an ideological shift. The question is, why?