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7,800 people lost their media jobs in a 2019 landslide
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In the past month, layoffs and cuts have hit Verizon Media,
Gannett, the CBC, and Highsnobiety, bringing the total number of
media layoffs, cuts, and buyouts in 2019 above 7,800, according
to Business Insider's tally.
The latest cuts followed layoff and buyout announcements at
BuzzFeed, Vice Media, and Disney.
For comparison, it's estimated that some 5,000 media jobs
were cut from the market from 2014 to 2017.
On December 10, CNN reported that Verizon Media planned to layoff
150 people that week. Verizon confirmed the cuts to CNN.
In a statement, Verizon said, "Our goal is to create the best
experiences for our consumers and the best platforms for our
customers. Today we are investing in premium content, connections
and commerce experiences that connect people to their passions
and continue to align our resources to opportunities where we
feel we can differentiate ourselves and scale faster."
In late January it was
reported that Verizon would cut 7% of its staff at its media
companies (an estimated 800 people), which include Yahoo, AOL,
and The Huffington Post.
"These were difficult decisions, and we will ensure that our
colleagues are treated with respect and fairness, and given the
support they need," Guru Gowrappan, CEO of Verizon Media, said in
a memo to staff.
It's estimated that 20 employees were laid off at HuffPost
earlier that month, including opinion writers, political
reporters, and others. Nearly 100 corporate Verizon employees
were
reportedly laid off in San Francisco.
The layoffs are in addition to the
10,400 employees that Verizon is looking to shed by the
middle of 2019 as part of a buyout program announced in December
2018.
Gannett: 215 jobs, December; 400 jobs, January 23
Newspaper giant Gannett laid off at least 215 employees at papers
across the country following its merger with local paper giant
GateHouse, who has also been known for cutting staff at local
papers.
The cuts affected flagship paper USA Today, and nearly 40 other
publications, according to a
spreadsheet tallying the layoffs kept by Florida Times-Union
journalist Andrew Pentazi.
In January, Gannett reportedly laid off journalists across the US
the same day that Verizon's layoffs were reported, following a
round of voluntary buyouts.
Gannett was quiet about the layoffs, but
Poynter reported on cuts that affected editors and senior
journalists at local papers owned by Gannett in regions across
the US. The New York Post reports that cuts affected as many as
400 people.
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Highsnobiety: 6 jobs; December 5
Men's fashion and lifestyle site Highsnobiety cut 6 employees on
December 5, according to a source close to the matter.
The cuts affected the news and video divisions.
In a statement given to Business Insider, a representative for
the site said:
"Highsnobiety recently announced the termination of six members
of the editorial staff in its New York office. This decision
follows a series of internal reorganizations implemented by its
new Editor-in-Chief, Thom Bettridge, who was appointed in July.
This announcement was made in service of Highsnobiety's evolution
as a publisher, a move to refocus priorities and invest further
in long-form and style content. The change does not effect staff
headcount, as the company is looking to fill additional roles as
part of its 2020 editorial strategy."
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: 35 jobs; November
In November, CBC announced that it would be cutting 35 jobs
effective December 31 due to "redundancy," according to
Broadcast Dialogue.
Cuts were said to affect employees "across the national news
service," including guild members and management.
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Beautycon Media: 9 jobs; November and September
Beautycon Media, a lifestyle media and events company, laid off
four people in November and five people in September, according
to
The Wrap.
Bell Media: 10 jobs, November 20
Bell Media, parent company of CTV and iHeartRadio,
cut at least 10 jobs across Canadian newsrooms in November,
in addition to the 11 cut at CTV earlier in the year.
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Toronto Star: 73 jobs; November 19
Torstar Corp., the parent company of the Toronto Star, announced
in November that it would lay off 73 people along with offering
buyouts, according to
Global News.
The announcement accompanied the decision to shutter local
editions of the paper, branded as StarMetro, across Canada.
Bustle Digital Group: 35 jobs; summer and fall
Bustle Digital Group
shut down its controversial attempt to relaunch Gawker in
July after the acquisition of
Inverse and reported troubles finding staff for the site.
Four people were laid off: the editor-in-chief, Dan Peres; the
writer Nate Hopper, the editorial director Carson Griffith, and
sales vice president Amanda Hale, the New York Post reported.
The Gawker relaunch faced trouble from the beginning, with
Gizmodo's Splinter causing chaos after it dug up unsavory tweets
of Griffith's shortly after the old property's new staff
announcement. Shortly after, Gawker's two writers
left, alleging that BDG refused to take action over offensive
comments Griffith made in the Gawker office.
After the controversy, Peres was hired to take charge of the
publication but
reportedly faced trouble recruiting, according to the Post.
In the fall,
Business Insider reported on multiple rounds of stealth cuts
across Bustle Digital Group's lifestyle publications. In all,
after multiple rounds, over
31 part and full-time workers were cut in addition to the
cuts at Gawker.
A former employee told Insider that the cuts were planned in
advance and staggered to avoid press attention.
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Tampa Bay Times: 7 jobs; October 24
Local Florida paper The Tampa Bay Times, the recipient of 12
Pulitzer Prizes and the creator of PolitiFact.com, laid off seven
employees October, according to its owner
Poynter.
Executive Editor Mark Katches told Poynter in an email, "It's
never easy to say goodbye to great colleagues. No one wins when
local journalism jobs are lost. Like every regional metro in
America, the revenue picture presents significant challenges for
us. But we're buttressed by the fact that we have one of the most
enormously talented newsrooms on the planet."
Poynter said the paper recently lost a major advertiser and has
struggled with digital revenue. In April 2018 the paper laid off
nearly 50 employees.
amNewYork: 9 jobs; October 11
9 people were laid off from daily subway tabloid amNewYork in
October when the publication was sold by Newsday to Brooklyn's
Schneps Media, which own over 50 neighborhood and local
newspapers.
amNewYork was left with just seven newsroom staff after the cuts,
according to
The New York Times.
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NBC: 82 jobs; October, September, and August
NBCUniversal laid off 70 employees in two rounds in August and
September.
In August, E! announced that as part of its decision to move it's
"E! News" show from LA to New York, it would be laying off 20 to
25 LA employees, Variety
reports.
In September, NBCUniversal announced that it would be laying off
45 more employees from E!, Oxygen, Bravo, and other properties,
according to
MediaPost.
NBCUniversal said the layoffs were part of its efforts to
consolidate network operations. "Today the Lifestyle Group is
making some changes to better organize ourselves for the future,"
NBCUniversal's president for lifestyle FrancesBerwick wrote. "I'm
confident that this new structure, which creates multi-brand
roles, will allow us to continue to grow the business and
optimize our internal talent."
In October, NBC News
announced that it was laying off a dozen staffers from its
video and tech operations, but that it planned to open 70
positions in the future that laid off employees could apply for.
Splinter: 7 jobs; October 10
Splinter, the politics site formerly known as Fusion, was shut
down by parent company G/O Media, resulting in 7 cuts.
Despite former editorial director Paul Maidment insisting that
the headcount at G/O would remain the same, staff confirmed
layoffs to
The New York Times. Maidment said the decision came down to
the struggle to find an audience for the site.
The cuts followed the acquisition of Gizmodo Media Group by
private equity firm Great Hill Partners, who have faced
resistance from staff, accusations of sexism, and now, mass
walkouts and resignations.
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WBAI-FM: 10 job; October 7
WBAI-FM, a left-wing FM radio staple in New York, shuttered in
October, laying of ten of its 12 employees, according to The New
York Times.
Parent company, nonprofit Pacifica Foundation, reportedly gave
the hosts and the station no notice, but it was struggling to
keep up with bills and salary payments.
In recent years, Pacifica faced financial troubles after it was
ordered to pay over a million dollars to an Empire State Building
trust, where it broadcast its signal from. It filed bankruptcy
over the lawsuit.
In 2013, 19 employees were laid off.
Sports Illustrated: 40 jobs; October 3
Sports Illustrated cut nearly 40 staffers, according to
The Wall Street Journal, and plans to replace some full-time
positions with contract roles - a move seen across media, tech,
and many other industries.
Sports Illustrated was recently licensed to The Maven Inc. by
Authentic Brands Group after the publication was sold by
Meredith.
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HuffPost: 13 jobs; October 3
HuffPost laid off 13 workers in its video department in early
October, cutting managers, producers, camera operators, and show
hosts, according to
HuffPost reporting.
"HuffPost is realigning its video strategy to invest and allocate
resources to support its core areas that have high audience
engagement, differentiation and are poised for growth as we
continue on our mission to provide a voice to all people," a
spokesperson said.
The cuts followed a round of previous larger cuts that were part
of hundreds of layoffs at its parent company Verizon.
Pitchfork: 6 jobs; October 1
In October, the music publication Pitchfork
laid off all six members of its video team as part of a
consolidation effort by parent company Conde Nast.
Conde, which acquired Pitchfork in 2015, has recently undergone
struggles to monetize in the digital media economy. In January,
it said it planned to put Pitchfork and all of its other digital
properties behind a paywall by the end of the year.
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The Washington Post Express: 20 jobs; September
The Washington Post laid off 20 people in September when it shut
down its commuter paper Express,
according to Washingtonian.
Company representatives told employees that the paper had lost
too much money to continue to justify its existence.
According to Washingtonian, The Post published a press release as
employees were being laid off, and staffers began to receive
texts from concerned friends and family while still in meetings.
Laid off staffers were given a minimum of 11-weeks salary as
severence.
Spin Media Group: 29 jobs; September and January
Valence Media cut seven positions at Spin Media Group on Monday,
September 16, according to
Billboard.
The cuts affected employees at music publications Spin,
Stereogum, and Vibe. Valence is owned by the Hollywood
Reporter-Billboard Media Group, which employs more than 400
people.
The group bought SpinMedia in 2016, "establishing the world's
largest music brand by digital traffic, social reach, and
audience share," according to a press release from
Spin.
In January, 22 people were laid off at Billboard and The
Hollywood Reporter,
according to The Wrap. The cuts were said to be made in an
effort to reduce redundancies.
In 2013, SpinMedia laid
off about 30 people, then 15% of its workforce.
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Rooster Teeth: 50 jobs; September 12
Rooster Teeth, an online media veteran that's lasted 16 years,
announced its first round of layoffs in September, saying it
would cut 13% of its workforce, or about 50 people.
"As we looked ahead at all of our upcoming opportunities and
challenges, we had to make some difficult decisions about how we
are organized," CEO Matt Hullum said in a memo Variety obtained.
The company primarily makes videos and is best known for its "Red
vs. Blue" series, which is the
longest-running web series.
Rooster Teeth is part of Otter Media, the sci-fi and gaming
division of WarnerMedia.
Otter Media cut 10% of its staff last year in layoffs that didn't
affect Rooster Teeth.
AXS TV: 40 jobs; September 10
As part of Mark Cuban's sale of AXS TV to Steve Harvey and Anthem
Sports & Entertainment, 40 people were cut from the company,
according to
The Wrap.
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ThinkProgress: 12 jobs; September 6
The progressive news and opinion site ThinkProgress, a project of
the liberal think tank Center for American Progress,
announced on September 6 that it would shut down and lay off
its 12-member staff.
"We are very sad to announce that after more than two months of
searching, we have been unable to identify a new publisher for
ThinkProgress, and we are left with no choice but to close
ThinkProgress as an independent enterprise focused on original
reporting," the site, which has been for sale since July, said in
a statement.
The Center For American Progress faced criticism for its decision
to shutter the site, with its former writer Matthew Yglesias
tweeting, "'I want you to do accurate, well-reported,
well-written stories about Republican Party politicians doing bad
things' would be a perfectly reasonable thing to spend money on."
Kiplinger's: 11 jobs; September 6
The personal-finance publication Kiplinger's laid off 11 people
in early September after being sold earlier this year. According
to
TalkingBizNews, a company representative said the layoffs
affected numerous teams to lessen impact. Cuts included writers,
editors, copyeditors, fact-checkers, administrators, and artists.
Kiplinger's said the cuts accompanied a new strategy that
consolidated certain departments and streamlined workflow.
"The new editorial structure and content strategy is intended to
be faster, more efficient, and more responsive, and will leverage
increased collaboration among the team of experienced and expert
editors and writers across all our publications, digital and
print," the company said in a statement.
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Cox Media Group: 87 jobs; August 29
The owner of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
announced a plan to lay off about 87 people in early
September but said the cuts would not affect the company's
flagship publication and would affect only managers.
Cox owns a set of TV and radio stations along with The
Journal-Constitution. Ownership of some of the TV and radio
stations was sold to another company that would retain the Cox
name, but Journal-Constitution ownership remained the same.
Vice Media: 265 jobs, August 29 and February 1
The Hollywood Reporter
first reported that the Brooklyn, New York-based media
company would cut about 250 jobs, with the aim of trimming down
and helping the organization become profitable.
"Having finalized the 2019 budget, our focus shifts to executing
our goals and hitting our marks," CEO Nancy Dubuc wrote in an
email to staff.
Vice Media will refocus around its TV production unit, its
international news team, its digital properties, and its original
TV content.
Staff members in the US who are unionized are set to receive
payouts of their accumulated paid time off, 10 weeks of
severance, and medical benefits.
The cuts were previewed in a Wall Street Journal
report in November 2018 that said the
company would cut staff in part because of audience attrition
over the prior three years.
Later, in August, The Wall Street Journal
reported 15 more cuts at Vice's TV channel Viceland. The
cuts, which hit across departments at the channel, were meant to
focus the channel towards news content instead of lifestyle or
other programming.
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ESPN International: 20 jobs; August 22
ESPN International decided to cut 20 employees from staff,
according to a report from
The New York Post.
10 staff were offered relocation packages for other jobs, while
20 individuals were slated to be told their contracts would not
be renewed.
Game Informer: At least 7 jobs; August 20
The video game retailer GameStop's Game Informer magazine laid
off at least seven staffers as part of larger layoffs that
affected the struggling company.
Seven editors announced on Twitter that they had been let go of
the company, which had a total masthead of 19, according to
Kotaku.
"While these changes are difficult, they were necessary to reduce
costs and better align the organization with our efforts to
optimize the business to meet our future objectives and success
factors," GameStop told
Kotaku.
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Pacific Standard: 45 jobs; August 16
In early August, Pacific Standard's editor-in-chief, Nicholas
Jackson, announced that the online publication covering the
Western US would shut down on August 16, affecting 20 full-time
employees, 25 contractors, and a stable of freelancers,
according to the Los Angeles Times.
The magazine was founded by the academic publisher Sara Miller
McCune, who started Sage publishing.
According to Pacific Standard's board president, Clive Parry, the
decision to shutter the magazine came after Sage decided to
reduce its funds for charitable giving.
NPR: 9 jobs; August 6
National Public Radio (NPR)
announced in August that it was cutting "fewer than 10"
newsroom jobs as part of a "realignment."
Senior VP of news and editorial director Nancy Barnes wrote that
"the changes are not about saving money."
Barnes wrote that the company wanted to more deeply invest in
investigations, opioid crisis coverage, and climate change
coverage.
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GateHouse Media: At least 243 jobs, August, May, and January
GateHouse Media, one of the largest local newspaper publishers in
the United States, quietly laid off journalists in multiple large
rounds throughout the year.
Business Insider confirmed there were
at least 60 layoffs at various local newspapers owned by the
company at the end of January. The layoffs focused on local
sports reporters and photographers, some of whom had worked at
their papers for over 30 years.
At the end of May, GateHouse reportedly
laid off at least an additional 159 people at newspapers
across the country, including reporters, editors, and other
staff.
The cuts seemingly began after the $30 million acquisition of
Schurz Communications Inc., which immediately resulted in 11 cut
jobs at three publications in Maine and Indiana.
After first-quarter losses, other cuts began in May. When
Business Insider inquired about the cuts, New Media CEO Mike Reed
called them "immaterial." He later
told Poynter that layoffs would number only about 10 people.
In August, it was reported that ahead of its merger with Gannett,
GateHouse had laid off at least 24 people, according to a count
from
Poynter.
Disney: 4,000 jobs; Ongoing
Following Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, the company
began layoffs that were expected to eventually claim at least
4,000 jobs, many of which the company says are meant to eliminate
redundancies. The layoffs, expected to affect both Disney and Fox
employees, have already begun.
Executives at Fox were the first to get the chop, ahead of
ad-sales employees at Fox Networks Group, according to
The Wrap.
National Geographic was next, cutting about 60 employees from
multiple departments.
And layoffs have
continued to roll through Fox's film and TV divisions.
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Rewire.News: 5 jobs; July and May
Rewire.News, a nonprofit publication devoted to evidence-based
reporting on social-justice issues, has
laid off five reporters in 2019. In May, it laid off its
Appalachia-specific reporter, and in July four union members were
told they would lose their jobs in September.
According to the Rewire.News union, the cuts will leave the
publication with no full-time reporters.
CTV: 11 jobs; July 24
As part of a larger restructuring announced by the Canadian
broadcaster CTV, 11 people were laid off in Vancouver, according
to Vancouver
Media News & Views, with more expected to come in other
cities.
The layoffs were initially announced company-wide in May and
included Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec,
according to
The Star.
The reorganization is supposed to focus more resources on digital
content.
Howard Law, the media director for the labor union Unifor, told
Business Insider that Vancouver was one of three local CTV
stations not represented by the union. He estimated that further
cuts could number between 50 and 200.
Law said the restructuring was largely due to technological
innovations that will allow CTV to reduce the number of editors
it uses, and lost ad revenue to online platforms.
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Inverse: 5 jobs; July 23
On June 23, five layoffs accompanied the acquisition of Inverse
by Bustle Digital Group. Inverse is a small science and
technology publication founded by Dave Nemetz, who cofounded
Bleacher Report with Bustle's Bryan Goldberg. Josh Topolsky of
The Outline, which was also recently acquired by Bustle, has been
tasked with overseeing Inverse under the company.
Inverse
confirmed to Business Insider that two editorial employees
and three others were laid off the day of the acquisition.
In the digital media ecosystem, Bustle has gained a reputation
for acquiring struggling media companies or brands - recently
acquiring Nylon, Mic, The Outline, Inverse, and Gawker.
Entrepreneur: 4 jobs; July 18
Entrepreneur magazine laid off four editorial staffers in
mid-June, according to
Talking Biz News. The company framed the layoffs as part of a
restructuring toward digital content.
"We're restructuring our digital offerings, with the goal of
developing new products that are even more useful for
entrepreneurs," the company said.
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Mad Magazine: About 10 jobs; July
Mad Magazine laid off about 10 staffers, according to one
estimate given to Insider by someone close to the situation, amid
news that the magazine would cease the production of original
content.
Issue 10 will reportedly be the magazine's last issue including
new material. The magazine will continue to honor existing
subscriptions with issues featuring new covers and recycled
material.
It's estimated that hundreds of freelancers will be affected.
The editors Casey Boyd and Dan Telfer were affected by the
layoffs, among other employees.
Jet and Ebony: 15 jobs; June and May
The
New York Post reported that at least 15 people were laid off
at the African American-focused magazines Jet and Ebony.
In May, seven staffers were laid off when the parent company
Clear View Group told Ebony staffers that the print edition of
the magazine was being suspended, according to the Post.
In June, eight Jet staffers were laid off shortly after Clear
View Group told Jet employees it couldn't pay them for the last
pay period in May, according to the Post.
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Quartz: 11 jobs; June and January
Quartz, a publication focused on data-driven global coverage,
laid off four employees in the UK in January and seven employees
in June, according to
reports from
Digiday. The cuts were composed of business-side employees
and members of the company's commercial team.
According to Digiday, Quartz is attempting to pivot its business
model from making custom commercial content for clients to a
subscription-based model.
Quartz's total headcount is reportedly down to 235 from 243 in
January.
In July 2018, Quartz was acquired by the Japanese media startup
Uzabase and was tasked with handling the company's mobile
English-language business subscription service, according to
the
Associated Press.
Quartz has had traffic struggles, according to Comscore, whose
data indicates a 50% dropoff in visitors following the
publication's acquisition, Digiday reported.
Pride Media and Out Magazine: 10 jobs; June and February
In June, during LGBT pride month,
WWD reported that five employees at the LGBT media group
Pride Media were laid off after a year of drama surrounding
payment and funding at the company. The cuts reportedly hit
corporate Pride Media staff and Out Magazine editorial staffers.
Five other staffers at Out were reportedly cut in February.
The company, and Out Magazine in particular, had been facing
criticism from its journalists who said they hadn't been paid in
months.
Just days before the layoffs, Pride Media had received a cash
injection from investors after months of promises,
Vice News reported.
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The Youngstown Vindicator: 144 jobs; June 28
The Youngstown Vindicator, a legendary Ohio daily that served an
area with more than 500,000 people, announced in June that it
would shutter in August, eliminating 144 full-time jobs,
according to the
Philadelphia Inquirer. Days before the announcement, the
publication celebrated its 150th birthday.
In an
article, The Vindicator's publisher and general manager
wrote: "Due to great financial hardships, we spent the last
year searching for a buyer to continue to operate The Vindicator
and preserve as many jobs as possible while maintaining the
paper's voice in the community. That search has been
unsuccessful."
Meredith: 60 jobs, June 7
The New York Post
reported that the magazine giant Meredith laid off about 1%
of its workforce, 60 employees, in early June, months after
acquiring Time Inc.
The cuts were primarily at Entertainment Weekly and Traditional
Home.
In September, the company laid off 200 people from a variety of
lifestyle publications.
A Meredith spokesman told the Post that the cuts came amid "a lot
of competition internally for ad dollars."
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First Look Media: 15 jobs, June and March
On March 13, First Look Media - the parent company of Glenn
Greenwald's The Intercept and Laura Poitras' Field of Vision -
laid off seven staff members and two contractors (4% of the
group) across the company.
Three of those laid off were tasked with maintaining and securing
the company's archive of materials leaked to Greenwald and
Poitras by Edward Snowden. The Snowden archive was also shut down
with the layoffs.
First Look Media CEO Michael Bloom
told staffers that the company had decided to "focus on other
editorial priorities" after mining the Snowden archive for five
years, The Daily Beast reported.
Bloom continued: "It is our hope that Glenn and Laura are able to
find a new partner - such as an academic institution or research
facility - that will continue to report on and publish the
documents in the archive consistent with the public interest."
In June, First Look Media announced
that it would lay off six staffers, shutter its Topic magazine,
and defund its comics publication The Nib.
Reading Eagle: 6 jobs, May 23
Pennsylvania's regional daily newspaper the Reading Eagle
announced that it was filing for bankruptcy in May 2019.
The same month, MNG Enterprises said it would buy the paper and
issued a warning that it could lay off all 221 employees,
according to a state labor filing cited by the New York Post.
Later, however, a representative of the firm handling the sale of
the company, Dirks, Van Essen, Murray & April, said,
"We don't know how many people will be retained."
So far, only six people have been laid off.
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CNN: 100 jobs, May 6
On May 6 it was
reported that more than 100 employees at CNN took buyouts
amid corporate restructuring efforts. The buyouts were offered to
employees who had hit retirement age, with four weeks of pay for
every year of service - potentially providing two years' worth of
pay total, according to
Deadline.
A CNN representative told Deadline the buyouts were explicitly
not related to layoffs, but the move comes as AT&T - which
owns CNN - attempts to restructure billions in debt.
1091 Media: 9 jobs; May 3
Studio 1091 media laid off nearly a quarter of their employees,
or 9 people, in cuts meant to focus their production line,
according to The Wrap.
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New Orleans Times-Picayune: 161 jobs, May 2
In May, New Orleans' Times-Picayune was acquired by one of its
competitors, The Advocate. All 161 employees of the
Times-Picayune were
laid off.
The Times-Picayune had long been the city's paper of record and
had won numerous Pulitzer Prize awards for its reporting on
Hurricane Katrina.
In 2012, the paper reduced its publication days to three days a
week and put focus on its NOLA.com site. In 2013, the paper
resumed daily publishing, but only after The Advocate swooped in
and began publishing the New Orleans addition that would prove to
be fatal competition for the paper.
G/O Media: 25 jobs, April 30
Despite G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller claiming he didn't
anticipate layoffs after he joined the new conglomerate (which
comprises Gizmodo Media Group and The Onion), the company laid
off 25 people, or 6% of its staff, in late April, Variety reported. The cuts
included top editors and veteran reporters.
Spanfeller said that despite the cuts he planned to hire above
the original headcount by the end of 2019. In May, there were
only five postings on Gizmodo Media Group's job site.
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Circa News: 16 jobs, March 26
Sinclair Broadcast Group's Circa News shuttered on March 26,
2019, with the company citing challenges facing small publishers.
"While we see new business opportunities with digital video
and OTT, they do not require the daily publishing of a website,"
Sinclair told The Washington Post.
Sinclair told the publication that 16 employees would be
laid off, and 22 would be integrated into Sinclair's news
team.
Circa started as a news app in 2012 and was shut down in
2015 after failing to find a large user base. Sinclair bought and
relaunched the property later that year.
Red Deer Advocate: 25 jobs, March 26
In late March, the CWA Canada media union
announced that Alberta's local Red Deer Advocate, owned by
Black Press Group, had laid off 26 staffers across the news and
mail room.
Along with the cuts, Black Press announced it was shutting down
the paper's weekly edition.
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Digg: 2 jobs, March 26
The former tech legend turned new-media company Digg.com laid off
two editors in March, shrinking the number of employees to 10.
The staffers affected were the managing editor and the features
editor, each of whom wrote and edited original content on the
primarily aggregated site, indicating a refocusing on aggregation
for the brand that in the past few years had branched out to
publishing original writing and video.
The layoffs followed the sale of Digg in 2018 to the ad-tech
company BuySellAds, which cleaved off nearly half of the company.
In a statement to Business Insider, BuySellAds' CEO said: "This
does not mark the end of original content at Digg, nor does it
hint at a major change in direction or strategy. We continue to
believe in the publication just as much as the day we acquired
it."
The Plain Dealer: 41 jobs, March 15
Cleveland's Plain Dealer newspaper
announced on March 15 that it would lay off 12 newsroom
employees in addition to 29 previously announced layoffs
scheduled for May. The editor George Rodrigue told union members
by email that "since around 2001 newspaper advertising revenue
has been plummeting."
The union has asked for the paper to wait until after an coming
subscription drive to make the cuts and vowed to fight them.
"This is a catastrophe for Cleveland and for local journalism,"
the Guild unit chairman Ginger Christ said, according to
Cleveland.com.
The 29 positions at stake are production jobs, which are being
moved to a third-party factory that the paper is contracting. The
additional 12 jobs are in the paper's news department.
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CMT: 10 jobs; March 13
Country Music Television cut at least 10 jobs in March,according
to The Wrap. Many of those affected were in the marketing
department.
New York Media: 32 jobs, March 11
New York Media, the family-held owner of New York Magazine,
Vulture, and other properties,
laid off 32 employees on March 11 as part of a restructuring.
The cuts affected 16 full-time employees and 16 freelance or
part-time workers, according to a statement from the company.
"The departments most especially affected include audience
development/circulation, copy, fact, production, and video," the
company said.
In November, the company announced that all its online content
would go behind a paywall, which it said was part of the reason
for the cuts.
"In some cases, the changes we are making reflect a need for new
focus as we build out our digital subscription business; in
others, they reflect an overdue integration of print and digital
staff," read the statement.
Last year the company said it was considering a sale; this year
its staff formed a union.
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Metro: 3 jobs, March 7
On March 7, Philadelphia's
Inquirer reported that three staffers in Philadelphia had
been laid off from the free tabloid Metro, which also publishes
in New York City and Boston, where there were also layoffs.
The team was told the news over the phone from a new executive
team in New York, and were shell-shocked, according to The
Inquirer. The paper is said to be refocusing on building
readership among train and bus riders in the city.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: 23 jobs, March 4
Fourteen people
took voluntary buyouts at the legendary St. Louis Dispatch in
March, following the paper's announcement in January that it
would offer 15 buyouts and
downsize offices.
In February, nine design, copy, and layout employees were
laid off when the paper decided to outsource the work.
The Dispatch
laid off five people in 2018 and had another round in 2015.
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Canadian Living, Style at Home, Elle Canada: 28 staffers, February 19
On February 19, Canadian Living, Style at Home, and Elle Canada
magazines, owned by Groupe TVA, cut as many as 28 staffers.
According to an email from the company's VP of communications to
J-Source, the company will move the headquarters of Canadian
Living and Style at Home from Toronto to Montreal as part of the
restructuring.
The company said: "In the context of the magazine industry
undergoing numerous worldwide changes, TVA Publications had to
reconfigure its internal structure. This decision will allow TVA
Publications to continue to offer its readers and its advertisers
high-quality brands that perform well in Canada."
Canadian Living and Style at Home were acquired in 2014 by Groupe
TVA, which also owns Les Publications Transcontinental-Hearst
Inc. - the owner of Elle Canada and Elle Quebec, according to
J-Source.
Machinima: 81 jobs, February 1
Machinima, what used to be one of the largest video producers
online, announced that it was closing in statements to news
outlets February 1.
"Machinima has ceased its remaining operations, which
includes layoffs," a spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter,
announcing that 81 jobs had been cut.
The company, which made gaming content for YouTube, was
bought by WarnerMedia and housed under Otter Media in 2016 but
stopped publishing material in January.
Otter Media announced that it had cut 10% of staff in
December.
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The McClatchy Co.: 200 jobs, February 1
On February 1, The McClatchy Co., which owns properties such as
the Miami Herald and the Kansas City Star, emailed staffers to
announce that 450 employees would be offered voluntary buyouts as
part of a "functional realignment," essentially signaling that
the jobs have been marked out of the budget.
According to McClatchy, 200 people took the buyouts.
The news was
first reported by the Miami New Times. It followed
McClatchy's failed attempt to buy Tribune Publishing in 2018.
BuzzFeed: 200 people, January 23
BuzzFeed announced last Wednesday it would lay off about 220
employees, slashing jobs in its news, LGBTQ, international, and
other divisions.
The layoffs ruffled feathers among media watchers when employees
working outside of California
were not offered payouts for their accrued paid time off, a
decision that was eventually reversed after BuzzFeed CEO Jonah
Peretti met with staff council and was called out on the
publisher's own streaming show, AM2DM.
Laid-off BuzzFeed employees also received a notable amount of
harassment from trolls online,
NBC News reported.
In a memo
published by Digiday on Tuesday, Peretti said the company
would refocus its efforts on BuzzFeed Originals (home to quizzes
and viral videos), commerce content, branded content, and branded
production and publishing.
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Condé Nast: 10 jobs, January 10
Job cuts hit Condé Nast in January, quietly eliminating several
positions across its properties.
Slate
reported that on January 10, the day Condé Nast's Wired
magazine moved onto a new floor of One World Trade Center, five
employees were let go. In November, Wired cut five staffers
devoted to its Snapchat channel.
WWD
reported cuts also hit editors at Glamour and junior staff at
GQ magazine.
The Dallas Morning News eliminated 43 jobs,
according to the Columbia Journalism Review, half of them in
the newsroom, on January 7. The cuts affected journalists who
covered immigration, transportation, the environment, and the
courts.
In a letter, publisher Grant Moise said the cuts would
reduce costs and begin a refocusing of the paper. Moise said
the editorial and opinion section would be merged, and arts
coverage would be reduced.
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For context, it's estimated that 5,000 journalism jobs disappeared between 2014 and 2017.
The cuts represent a seismic shift in the media landscape.
According to the
Pew Research Center, a total of 5,000 media jobs left the
market between 2014 and 2017, including growth in the digital
sector.
This story has been updated to note that only 200 people took
voluntary buyouts at McClatchy, after initially reporting that
450 people had been offered buyouts.
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