Everybody’s painfully aware that the economy has been taking a huge hit the last couple of months because of lockdowns related to the coronavirus outbreak. But now the layoff wave is starting to crash across the bow of the media, and it’s causing some alarms to go off:
Over just three days, Condé Nast, Quartz and VICE gutted their newsrooms with layoffs. This is a historically bad year for digital and local journalism. https://t.co/MH6trN3wIr
— Andy Campbell (@AndyBCampbell) May 15, 2020
And Buzzfeed. Solidarity with our union pals, this is an awful week in an awful year.
— Andy Campbell (@AndyBCampbell) May 15, 2020
This was such a horrible week.
Condé Nast: 100 layoffs + 100 furloughs
BuzzFeed: ~ 20 furloughs
Quartz: 80 layoffs
Vice: 155 layoffs
The Economist: 90 layoffs335 media jobs eliminated. 120 jobs tbd …
— Kerry Flynn ? (@kerrymflynn) May 15, 2020
Baffling to me why work-sharing wasn't more widely considered.
In a truly catastrophic week for journalism, it'd be nice to see more creative thinking from media execs.
Journalists need better business models, more empowered unions and better management. https://t.co/kphEfMjayb
— Ryan McCarthy (@mccarthyryanj) May 15, 2020
Iowahawk summed up how layoffs are reported in the media vs. other jobs:
355 job losses is a tragedy, 21 million job losses is a statistichttps://t.co/Mp5HXTN1Kf
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) May 15, 2020
Weird how that works, right?
You reap what you sow. Without so many media orgs ginning up the hysteria to the max, this never would have happened. https://t.co/v9uut4HTs6
— Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) May 15, 2020
We’re guessing the media won’t want what’s become the accepted reaction used in response to the above stories:
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It's the price we must pay for keeping everyone safe. Lockdowns must continue until there is a vaccine. We're all in this together. https://t.co/XcPnca1XBf
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) May 15, 2020
If it saves just one life then it's worth it
— Matthew Cardiel (@MillenialMatt92) May 15, 2020
The jobs can come back and we need to be in lockdown till we are sure there is no risk
— Mo Syed (@mosyednyc) May 15, 2020
This is one story where “this must continue until there’s a vaccine” probably won’t be considered an acceptable response.
Doom and gloom merchants get taste of the medicine they helped force-feed to millions. https://t.co/c8Onf6FS5p
— Saifedean Ammous (@saifedean) May 15, 2020
“We understand that 30 million of you peasants lost your jobs, but please take a moment and cry for these 335 journalists” https://t.co/47l18Q5gys
— The Dank Knight ? (@capeandcowell) May 15, 2020
Welcome to the party, pal. https://t.co/GcN00VNlD1
— Mulder’s Lying Dog-faced Coping Pony Soldier (@proteinwisdom) May 15, 2020
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