Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:47pm EST
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Washington Post is closing its last U.S. bureaus outside the nation's capital as the money-losing newspaper retrenches to focus on politics and local news.
"At a time of limited resources and increased competitive pressure, it's necessary to concentrate our journalistic firepower on our central mission of covering Washington and the news, trends and ideas that shape both the region and the country's politics, policies and government," the newspaper's top editor, Marcus Brauchli, wrote in a memo to employees that was obtained by Reuters.
The Post will close its bureaus in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, effective December 31.
The news comes after the Post told several employees at its website that they would be laid off, and follows several rounds of buyouts in recent years.
The Post, like nearly every other U.S. newspaper, has been battered by falling advertising revenue and circulation as readers get more news online for free.
