Jack, for over a decade now, media companies have been hemorrhaging jobs. The primary culprits are Facebook and Google, as Emily Bell, the founding director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, wrote in February 2019:
"The amount of data large platform companies collect and control enables them to offer far more efficient advertising than any publisher, and the business of making online content profitable is rigged against anyone who wants to run even a sparsely resourced newsroom with experienced reporters."
Then came the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though more people were consuming digital media and news, fewer businesses had the capital to spend on advertising. 2020 was an absolutely devastating year for media companies, with 37,000 employees furloughed or laid off.
Now, as people are starting to get vaccinated and there is a return to normalcy, you would think that the purge of media jobs would cease -- but it hasn't. In just the past month we saw more and more media companies layoff staff; the Huffington Post cut 47 jobs a month after it was acquired by Buzzfeed, Medium offered buyouts to its editorial staff and Vice Media cut a handful of their top jobs.
There was one thing Trump got right: without him around, the ratings of news networks and media companies would tank. That's exactly what is happening now. After Trump's second impeachment trial in January, traffic to news networks and media companies plummeted, and along with it, that essential advertising revenue. As CNN reports, expect further devastation in the news industry later this year:
"I think these media companies are looking at the dollar signs, and it's just not there," said Joel Kaplan, an associate dean for professional graduate studies and professor of magazine, newspaper and digital journalism at Syracuse University. "They have probably six months before it really gets bad. Once people are vaccinated and go back to doing the things that they're used to doing, I think it's going to fall off the cliff again."
Fortunately, Daily Kos is different. Unlike other media companies, Daily Kos hasn't relied on advertising dollars to cover our budget for quite some time. In fact, the largest source of our revenue comes from readers and activists like you, Jack, meaning we literally couldn't do this work without you. That's why I'm asking you to start a $5 monthly donation to Daily Kos right now.
Can't donate monthly? Please click here to chip in $5 one time.
Thank you for all you do,
Amanda McKay, Daily Kos
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