(Los Angeles) The Los Angeles Times announced Tuesday the dismissal of more than a fifth of its editorial staff, in the midst of a crisis in the American media, while journalists from Condé Nast, which brings together Vanity Fair, Vogue Or GQdemonstrated in New York against a social plan.
At least 115 journalists from Los Angeles Times will be fired, to face annual losses of 30 to 40 million dollars, announced its owner, the billionaire and biotech entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong, in the pages of the major Californian newspaper, created 142 years ago.
“Today’s decision is painful for everyone, but it is imperative that we act quickly and take steps to build a viable and thriving newspaper for future generations,” with more subscriptions and advertising revenue, said the businessman, who bought the newspaper for $500 million in 2018.
“We still believe in Los Angeles Times and the important role it plays in a vibrant democracy. But a newspaper cannot play this role when its staff is cut to the bone,” lamented the newspaper union, as the country prepares to experience a tense presidential campaign in 2024, probably between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
“Difficult decision”
The Los Angeles newspaper, which has won 51 Pulitzer Prizes since 1942, must adapt to the upheavals of the digital age, declining advertising revenues and the loss of subscribers, a difficult shift for many newspaper titles. traditional.
Seventy positions had already been eliminated in June 2023 as of Los Angeles Times. The editorial director, Kevin Merida, left his position in early January, amid disagreements with the owner, according to media reports.
Of Washington Postowned by billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, to public radio NPR, via Vox Media (New York Magazine, The Verge, Vox), 2023 was marked by numerous announcements of job cuts in American editorial offices, a movement that has been going on for years.
PHOTO HAIYUN JIANG, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
Employees demonstrate in front of the offices of the Washington Postowned by Jeff Bezos, in December 2023.
On Tuesday, the boss of Time Magazine, Jessica Sibley, also wrote to her teams to announce “the difficult decision to eliminate positions within several departments”, without giving figures, according to a journalist from the Semafor site which published the information about
According to a report at the beginning of December from Challenger, Gray and Christmas, a human resources consulting company, 2,681 jobs had already been eliminated in newsrooms in 2023, compared to 1,808 in 2022 and 1,511 in 2021.
Another shocking and very symbolic announcement, the majority of the editorial staff of the prestigious magazine Sports Illustrated will be fired by its publisher, The Arena Group, the American press union indicated on Friday.
“Targeted attack”
The difficulties also affect media of the internet era, such as Vice Media, which has been bankrupt since May, while BuzzFeed announced in April the closure of its news site BuzzFeed News, with 180 layoffs to boot.
The announcements at Los Angeles Times and at Time Magazine intervened while 400 journalists and unionized employees of the Condé Nast group, which brings together titles like Vanity Fair, Vogue Or GQstopped work for 24 hours on Tuesday to protest against the conditions of a layoff plan in the group.
PHOTO ANGELA WEISS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Unionized employees of the Condé Nast media group demonstrated at the foot of One World Trade Ceneter in New York, after the announcement of job cuts.
In New York, at the foot of the One World Trade Center building, where Condé Nast has its offices, more than a hundred of them demonstrated in the rain, then in the humid cold, voluntarily ignoring the coverage of the nominations for the Oscars in Hollywood.
Condé Nast announced in November its intention to lay off 5% of its teams, or around 300 people. But the group’s union, formed in 2022, is protesting in particular against a plan which targets 20% of its members and is similar to a “targeted attack”, according to one of its managers, Ben Dewey.
According to the website Variety, actress Anne Hathaway, known for her role in the film The devil wears Prada (2006), which is set in the magazine Vogueleft a photo shoot at Vanity Fair in solidarity with the strikers.