Before WAMU’s leadership told their own employees that they were being laid off, they provided those details in a scoop to Axios.

The exclusive story by Axios’ senior media reporter Sara Fischer cited WAMU General Manager Erika Pulley–Hayes saying the the layoffs were part of a “shift away from digital publishing [that] will allow WAMU to focus on its core radio products, as well as new digital audio opportunities like podcasts and live events.”

The problem was that the information provided to Axios might not have been completely accurate. Fischer reported, apparently based on information from WAMU, that 15 DCist/WAMU staffers would be laid off. But late last week, the WAMU union posted on X (formerly Twitter) that 16 people had been laid off.

A list provided to City Paper that the union used to help organize a fundraiser to support former employees also names 16 people. The list is based on information that American University provided to the union regarding the layoffs. (AU holds the license for WAMU.)

But WAMU appears to dispute the total. In an emailed statement to City Paper, the station says “16 positions were slated to be eliminated as part of the new WAMU audio-first strategy. Shortly prior to notifying team members, one of the staff in an impacted position announced their resignation.”

Carol Wilkerson, assistant vice president for communications and media, has not responded to multiple follow up emails or a phone call seeking clarification.

WAMU union shop steward Matt Blitz confirms that seven union members were laid off, but he could not comment on the non-union staff who lost their jobs. Blitz says it’s unclear to him which former employee the station could be referring to.

Some have speculated that WAMU could be referring to it’s now-former housing and development reporter, Morgan Baskin. Two days before WAMU announced the lay offs, Baskin announced on X that she was planning to move to Chicago to attend graduate school. Baskin was one of the seven WAMU union members who was laid off. (Full disclosure: I worked with Baskin when she was WCP’s Housing Complex reporter.)

The confusion only adds to the list of unforced errors in WAMU’s announcement that they were eviscerating the newsroom and killing DCist. Providing an exclusive to Axios, which was published just as soon-to-be jobless employees were informed of the layoffs, is one; the station’s decision to restrict access to DCist’s archives, is another. (After community outcry, WAMU announced it will maintain the archived site for one year.)

In the wake of the announcement, multiple former WAMU employees pointed out the flaws in station leadership’s spin about pivoting to audio.

“Every DCist/WAMU reporter, like the four laid off today (myself included), writes for web AND produces radio stories. You can’t fill a newscast without reporters!” Baskin posted on X.

And in the weeks since the announcement, others have shed more light on some of the discussions going on behind the scenes at WAMU in the lead-up to February’s layoffs. Former longtime reporter and editor Martin Austermuhle recently said on the City Cast DC podcast that the staff was told last year about a budget deficit, a slowdown in advertising buys, and a hiring freeze. Austermuhle, who departed the station last summer for a new job in Switzerland, also described some internal tension over how to handle the two, distinct brands—WAMU and DCist.

“But over the course of 10 years, we had been through other periods where finances were bad and they stopped hiring,” Austermuhle said on the podcast. “They had to do other things to kind of keep things shored up until they could recover. But they always recovered.”

He added that, in his experience, Pulley-Hayes was more closed off to the staff than any general manager he had previously worked under. (Pulley-Hayes has not responded to emailed requests for comment.)

“Leadership was so grotesquely out of touch with its staff, to the point that we had a meeting last summer that I was sitting in and we asked Erika, the general manager, what type of content that we were producing at that time that she actually liked,” Austermuhle said. “And she couldn’t answer. She did not know what we did. And how can you as a leader chart a path forward if you don’t know what your current staff is doing now?”