Washington Post shutters sports department

The Washington Post shuttered its venerable sports department on Wednesday, part of a larger layoff involving one-third of the newspaper's staff.

"The Washington Post is taking a number of difficult but decisive actions today for our future, in what amounts to a significant restructuring across the company," a Post spokesperson said in a statement. "These steps are designed to strengthen our footing and sharpen our focus on delivering the distinctive journalism that sets The Post apart and, most importantly, engages our customers."

Executive editor Matt Murray announced the changes in a video conference with employees.

The move comes with Post reporters already on site covering Super Bowl LX and the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

"It's like somebody taking a hammer to my heart," Sally Jenkins, who wrote a Post sports column until she left the paper last summer, told The Ringer. "It's not just broken. It's broken into about 20 pieces, one for every single one of my close friends there."

Some sports reporters are expected to move into other roles, but the exact number was not reported.

A skeleton crew will continue to produce what Murray described as features about sports as a "cultural and societal phenomenon."

The Post has undergone repeated changes, downsizings and reinventions since Amazon chief Jeff Bezos purchased the paper in 2013.

In addition to cutting the sports pages, the Post is reducing its international footprint, making the Metro section more "nimble and focused" and eliminating the Books section.

--Field Level Media