This week the Los Angeles Times ownership instituted layoffs of over 100 staffers. This sweeping purge involved the Washington D.C. Bureau, as well as spoke sports beat writers and other reporters. This follows months of contentious in-house conflicts, diminishing traffic and revenues, and even a one-day strike staged by staffers on Friday, January 19.
The Times’ issues are being seen across the news spectrum. The Washington Post has experienced another recent staff cut with buyouts of workers. Sports Illustrated recently announced most of its staff will be out of work. Print and broadcast outlets have been cutting payrolls, to the tune of thousands of jobs lost the past year. To say journalism is in a precarious position these days is a given, but it is also something many in journalism approach with harsh denial. Note how so many reporters keep insisting that our economy is doing great, all while their own industry is being rocked on a weekly basis.
With this reality being faced one would think the story of a billionaire taking over the reins of a foundering newspaper would be looked at as a positive step. The Baltimore Sun is a local paper that has been enduring all of the same pressures seen across the news industry, and recently it was acquired by David D. Smith, for a tidy fortune. Smith is a media mogul centered in Baltimore, so the story should be looked at as a local businessman interested in keeping the doors open and the staff employed at a neighboring news source.
