American media has been affected “by declining advertising revenue and a slowing economy,” explained Chris Roos, professor of journalism at Quinnipiac University.
CNN, Vox Media, Washington Post… this winter has been marked by a new round of layoffs in the US media, a trend that continues due to the poor economic climate.
“I’m part of the team fired from @NBCInvestigates (…) I’ll miss it, but I’m grateful for my time there.”
Like Emily Siegel, who declined to provide further details after this tweet was posted Wednesday, multiple reporters on the editorial staff of NBC, MSNBC and even CNN have announced their layoffs on social media since December.
On Friday, employees at the company Vox Media – which owns the websites Vox, The verge, SBNAtion and since 2019 the well-known New York Magazine – received the same email from their head, Jim Bankoff, in which they were informed of “the difficult decision to reduce staff by approximately 7% across all departments,” including pension, “due to the difficult economic environment.”
“15 minutes”
The employees affected by this decision, about 130 out of a total of 1,900, were informed by a second message sent “in the next 15 minutes”.
Many of them took to social media to express their anger or confusion, including Megan McCarron, a reporter for “nine and a half years” at Eater, who was fired “at 37 weeks pregnant.”
Vox Media responded that the company offers “competitive compensation,” which includes additional compensation if parental leave is approaching.
While these layoffs are not as widespread as those at major tech companies — Google announced on Friday that it was cutting 12,000 jobs — U.S. media has also been affected “by declining advertising revenue and a slowing economy,” explained Chris Roos Professor of Journalism at Quinnipiac University.
“Many of them have grown and developed with the hope of increasing their audience (…) This has not happened and the chances of it happening are very small in the current economic context,” he added.
Fewer journalists
US newsroom workers declined, falling from 114,000 to 85,000 from 2008 to 2020, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey. The largest decline was seen in local media.
“Journalism has long been under pressure, and a number of businesses seem to think this is an opportune time to cut their labor costs,” the Writers Guild of America East complained.
An announcement about staff reduction is also expected in the newspaper Washington Postwhere CEO Fred Ryan warned in mid-December that there would be job cuts in the first quarter of 2023.
In the CNN several hundred workers were laid off in December, according to US media, numbers the broadcaster has not confirmed.
The layoffs come as part of a reorganization of the company, following the merger of WarnerMedia (CNN, HBO Max) and Discovery, which created a media and streaming giant.
With viewership and subscriptions to paid content declining for years and competition from platforms like Netflix, “companies are constantly fighting for survival,” noted Naveen Sharma, director of US media and telecoms at S&P Global Ratings.
According to Chris Russ, “a smaller company is going to have more problems because it’s smaller and it’s not as established as a brand.” He cites the example of Buzzfeed, which laid off 12 percent of its workforce in December, or Vice Media, whose CEO Nancy Dubick told employees on Friday that she was considering selling the company.
RES-EMP
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