Michael Wilbon on The Washington Post Cuts, Accountability, and What Writers Should Do Next
The Washington Post shuttered its sports department this week. For Michael Wilbon, who spent three decades in that newsroom before moving to television, the decision hit hard. He called it devastating-personally and professionally. He also questioned the bigger picture: What happens to sports coverage in the nation's capital now?
Wilbon doesn't pin the blame on one person, though he criticized leadership for breaking promises and shrinking the paper's ambition. He points to what most writers already feel: habits changed, revenue broke, and too many outlets still haven't figured out a model that sustains reporting. Killing entire desks makes it worse.
What This Loss Means for Writers
Wilbon's take is blunt. Losing a sports desk isn't just a job story; it's a civic one. Sports bind communities. Removing consistent, on-the-ground reporting weakens that bond.
For writers, it's a reminder that the distribution model will keep shifting. The job survives if the craft survives. The format just won't look like it used to.
The Standard That's Slipping: Show Up
Wilbon believes the biggest casualty of online punditry is accountability. In his words, if you're going to be critical, you have to show up the next day. Face people. Build relationships. It keeps your work honest and your tone fair.
He lived a simple rule from his father: "Don't throw a rock and hide your hand." If you won't stand in front of the person you wrote about, you probably went too far.
Sports, Culture, and Politics
He rejects the idea that sports should live in a bubble. The best sports sections always spilled into life: plane crashes, neighborhood crises, civic moments. Whether you wade into politics or not depends on the publication and the audience. But avoiding topics out of fear is a bad compass.
His blunt take: "Too fucking bad. Put it down and go read something else." Courage matters-but so does context. Know the outlet. Know your readers. Then write it clean.
What He Tells Students (And What He Can't)
Wilbon admits the question haunts him: What do you tell young writers right now? Newspapers faded. Storytelling didn't. The path is different, not dead.
- Become a great storyteller. Study structure, character, scene, and stakes.
- Learn new media. Be fluent in video, audio, newsletters, and social platforms.
- Build a beat and a community. Consistency > virality.
- Keep reporting muscles strong. Get in the room. Call sources. Walk the grounds.
The Hardest Assignments
Death pieces. From Len Bias to friends lost in plane crashes, writing about life and death demanded the most care. If you've done one, you know. Precision, empathy, and restraint are non-negotiable.
AI: Useful, Scary, and Still Unsettled
Wilbon tried an experiment at a friend's urging: feed a prompt into an AI and see what comes out "in his voice." The result was uncomfortably close. That raised questions he couldn't answer: Are there clear rules? Is it plagiarism if it mirrors your patterns? What does a writer owe the reader?
Until the ground rules are clear, treat AI like a spell-checker or brainstorming partner, not a ghostwriter. Keep your notes. Keep your recordings. Keep your voice. Disclose when it meaningfully shapes a piece. And always fact-check.
- Set a personal policy now: what you will and won't use AI for.
- Follow ethics guidance as it emerges. The SPJ Code of Ethics is a solid anchor.
- If you want structured training, review practical tools and courses built for working writers: AI tools for copywriting.
If You Were Laid Off: A Practical Playbook
Wilbon's core advice: double down on storytelling. The best storytellers aren't always the most credentialed. They're the people who keep you listening.
- Pick a niche with community gravity (a team, a league, a local scene). Publish on a schedule.
- Create formats readers can rely on: weekly notes column, postgame breakdown, clubhouse notebook, Q&A.
- Be present. Practices, games, pressers, community events. Your access becomes your moat.
- Package your skills: reporting, editing, video recaps, newsletters. Sell project bundles to outlets and brands.
- Build direct lines: email list first, social second. Own your audience.
- Collaborate with photographers, data folks, and audio editors. Ship more, at a higher standard.
If AI helps you ship cleaner copy faster, use it-without outsourcing your taste or your reporting. For curated learning paths by role and skill, see Courses by job.
The Line That Doesn't Move
Institutions will contract. Platforms will shuffle. The standard stays the same: show up, tell the story straight, and earn trust one piece at a time.
That's how this work survives whatever comes next.
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