Layoffs in the media industry are becoming all too common. It is like a mass slaughter with thousands of people being laid off. Whether it is desperation to cut cost that drive the layoffs or the fact that some of the venues are nearly outmoded, is another issue. Probably a little of both. But in the interim many media personnel will be joining the ranks of the unemployed, facing a long and harsh winter.
New York Magazine is joining the newer and less harsh trend of issuing employee pay cuts in order to save jobs. While the cut backs are painful they are not nearly as painful as being out of work, completely. Same goes for the scaling down from a full time week to less hours. At least there is some money coming in.
Sooner or later the economy will turn around, or at least bottom out, so that some of our media venues cna restore themselves. Some, I’m afraid will be going out of business. In some cases, they are outmoded forms of delivery and their time has simply come. Still, we most have multiple voices providing information, opinion and even entertainment. Otherwise everything becomes one voice, the same-same, and there is no varying perspective. Not a good thing for any democracy.
Certain companies will survive. Some will put the staff on full time. Some,. eventually, will eliminate the pay cuts. And some wil hire new employees, conduct the necessary background checks and perform the necessary professional reference checks to determine who is best qualified for this new age in media. It will take awhile before this all sorts out, and for the next number of months at least the only certainty we have is that the experience will be painful.
It may not be a pretty picture, but we do need people to write about it from all points of view.
