The landscape of journalism in the US is shifting dramatically, and newspapers and magazines are facing significant and widespread conflicts as they try to keep up.
On January 23rd, the Los Angeles Times revealed plans to begin the process of laying off 115 employees, constituting more than 20% of its newsroom and making the layoffs one of the largest in the newspaper’s history.
Mass layoffs like these have been seen at media outlets across the country, with the staff of magazines like Sports Illustrated and National Geographic decimated by staff cuts and the future of such publications put in jeopardy. Some magazines are shutting down altogether, such as Pitchfork, a music magazine that is now downsizing to be part of GQ, resulting in significant staff cuts, including its editor-in-chief.
Workers are fighting back, though. On January 23rd, over four hundred unionized journalists at Condé Nast — the media company that owns publications like Vogue, GQ, and Vanity Fair — walked out in protest of the bargaining tactics used during layoff negotiations at the company’s headquarters in New York City. The resulting staff cuts left three hundred journalists, 5% of Condé Nast’s staff, without jobs.
The struggles of unionized journalists span across multiple publications. 94 of the LA Times’ layoffs impacted union members, some which walked out in protest following the announcement of the staff cuts.
Part of the reason for such drastic changes is a new lack of revenue from advertisers, who are now turning to social media platforms rather than newspapers to promote their products. In response to this decrease in funds, some newspapers are being sold to wealthy business leaders or larger media companies in hopes that they will serve as a sort of financial benefactor for the publications. Not all newspapers can afford this potential solution, however, especially on the local level. A study by the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University found that an average of five local newspapers are closing every two weeks, leaving swaths of Americans without a reliable local news source.
One solution to the struggles currently plaguing publications across America lies in the hands of their readers: digital subscriptions. Digital subscriptions have been a lifeline for newspapers like The New York Times and Boston Globe, and extending this same aid to other publications could be the remedy to their issues within the newsroom. While the future of many publications remains unclear, bright spots such as this could help demystify what lies ahead for the journalism industry.