The 2024 evisceration of journalism and media jobs continued on Thursday with staff cuts at NowThis, and at the Intercept, an investigation-focused publication launched 10 years ago with funding from the eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.
In a “reduction in force” (RIF) statement reposted on X, the Intercept management said that, like many news outlets: “The Intercept is facing significant financial challenges. To become sustainable, we need to make some changes – which unfortunately include 15 staff reductions across the organisation.”
After the cuts at NowThis, several former employees shared the news of their dismissals on X.
Jasmine Amjad wrote that she had been cut after more than eight years at the publication: “I was laid off today along with many of my talented colleagues. I’ve produced thousands of videos and connected w/ so many amazing people. It was rough finding this out at 1AM, but I am excited to see what’s next for me.”
PJ Evans wrote: “Hi I just got laid off from my job at NowThis. I’m locked out of my email and my computer so I didn’t even know until a coworker texted me. I worked there for 6+ years as a senior writer and I worked very hard there.”
Shortly after the news broke, the NowThis Union shared a statement revealing that a whopping 50% of the staff had been laid off.
“Many of us are concerned about the direction the company is taking – away from editorial standards, as made especially clear by the gutting of the entire copy team, removal of published content, and major shift in coverage to attract advertisers. We are concerned for our colleagues who have been let go and for those who are still here,” the statement read.
In December Vox Media laid off 4% of its staff – at least 20 people, according to the New York Times.
The latest round of downsizing comes at a markedly brutal time for publications supported by advertising revenue linked to online traffic. Not only is traffic down, in part a consequence of a decline in referrals from search engines, but the rates advertisers are willing to pay for page views are also declining.
The cuts so far this year, in addition to at least 8,000 job cuts made in the UK, the US and Canada last year, include 300 jobs lost in the collapse of news startup the Messenger; 70 at Business Insider; about 30 at Time; 115 at the Los Angeles Times; about 50 to 100 people at NBC News; and 12 at Condé Nast’s Pitchfork.
Walkouts before potential job losses have been staged at the New York Daily News and Forbes, adding to growing unease that parts of the news media industry are in their final death throes. Last year, BuzzFeed News collapsed, and Vice Media announced it was undergoing a comprehensive restructuring.
In October, the Washington Post’s acting CEO, Patty Stonesifer, announced plans to cut 240 jobs in December, affecting about 10% of the workforce, through voluntary buyouts. Stonesifer told staffers that previous managers had been “overly optimistic” about the paper’s prospects for growth.
In some cases, the cuts appear to be a tiring by billionaire owners at the financial bleed media ownership often entails. In others, particularly at regional papers, the gutting of staff and resources is blamed on private equity fund owners looking to improve their return on investment.
Tim Franklin, the senior associate dean at Northwestern University’s Medill journalism school, described the January round of layoffs to Politico as “breathtaking”.
“This is a continuation of the trend of what’s happening throughout last year,” he said. “Part of the issue is that the landscape is changing so rapidly, that the news organizations are trying to change the wheels on the plane as it’s flying.”