Media Layoffs Hit Legacy and Online Media, Highlighting the Human Toll and Their PR Impact

News media layoffs are becoming one of the big news stories of 2024 – and it’s only the first week of February.

In January alone, more than 500 journalists lost their jobs, according to Politico. And Politico said, the cuts followed a bad year for journalism jobs in 2023 when the industry lost 3,087 digital, broadcast and print news jobs.

The 2024 layoffs came at both legacy media and online and startup media: the Los Angeles Times, The Messenger, the Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Time Magazine, Business Insider, Pitchfork, National Geographic, and Sports Illustrated

More outlets were reportedly planning to lay off journalists, and at union newsrooms, journalists took to work stoppages and walkouts to protest the state of their working conditions and development in the industry.

What is happening and why exactly? And what is the impact on PR?

There are a lot reasons – simple and complex -- for the layoffs and they are being debated in news stories and on social media. But one thing is for sure, the cuts impact the laid off reporters in a huge way, and as part of a ripple effect, it also impacts PR people.

If you are a PR person, there is the loss of relationships with reporters you may have dealt with over time. Then there are news beat changes as a result, and the need to update your media lists.

The worst kind of all these job cuts is the loss of a total publication, which appears to be happening to Sports Illustrated and which did just happen to the Messenger, when the online startup was shut down without any notice.

With all the journalism layoffs, twitter lately looks like a recruitment and job board feed with laid off journalists posting about their availability and other journalists offering words of support and job and freelance leads.

Turmoil in journalism jobs isn’t new; it’s just that now there is a new breed of ownership of media – billionaires, private equity, hedge funds and the like -- and a lot more online outlets, startups and media non-profits than in the past.

When I was a journalist, I experienced a revolving door of media outlet owners, a 25%  pay cut, buyouts, a Chapter 11 filing by a news organization, and in one case, the cancellation of a Christmas bonus to make the bottom line look better.

One of the biggest problems as a result of all the layoffs is morale in newsrooms. And this has been happening in both union newsrooms and non-union newsrooms.

All of this makes the media itself a news story. In the middle of a story is the last place the media or any reporter wants to be.

The media and PR industries should be prepared. These media layoffs may not be over yet.