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The Washington Post is laying off a third of its staff in the newsroom and other departments.

The troubled US newspaper began implementing large-scale cutbacks on Wednesday, including eliminating its sports department and shrinking the number of journalists it stations overseas.

The changes were announced by executive editor Matt Murray in a Zoom meeting with staff.

The staff reduction is a significant blow at the Post, known for for its Watergate revelations and most recently for aggressive coverage of US President Donald Trump's cutbacks to the federal workforce, and for journalism in general.

Staff members in the newsroom were told they would be getting emails with one of two subject lines, announcing that the person's role has or has not been eliminated.

A Post representative confirmed that one-third of the staff would be cut, without saying how many total employees the newspaper has.

The newspaper's books department will be closed and its Washington DC-area news department and editing staff will be restructured, Murray told staff members.

Murray acknowledged that the cuts will be a shock to the system but said the goal is to create a Post that can grow and thrive again.

"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.