The way the media companies are laying off the entire industry will be down to two persons, a woman named Laura and a guy named Mike, writing, editing, working in front and behind of the cameras and editing their copy. Cost cutting will be achieved at the optimum level, but news and journalism could start to be a little repetitive and tedious. It was announced that Readers Digest will be laying off another three hundred employees and AOL will be cutting ten percent of its work force. One has to think, where will it end? Maybe even Laura and Mike will find their jobs in jeopardy.
We can blame much of it on a disastrous economy, but then we should look at other concerns to truly ascertain why so many people are being laid off industry. Frankly, I see the economy as one reason but also an excuse to revamp outmoded and even obsolete media delivery systems, all reporting in the same way on the same stories. Or to put it simply, most of it is boring. The news is certainly boring. With some exceptions it is difficult to read an entire story. I have started again to welcome the brevity in the news industry, started in the Civil War when fear of abruptly cut telegraphy lines compelled reports to write the Who, What, When, Where and How, before embellishing in the more colorful details. Now reporters start with what they feel are the more colorful details and create slow leads that take forever to provide any real information.
And then there are the broadcast people who never seem to get their facts right. Or there are those who launch into tangential answers to questions to which they don’t have a clue. Another thing, do we really need eight hundred magazines reporting on the common practices, even the banal ramblings of what passes for celebrities? How much advice about getting a man or finding a woman really makes sense when most are having tough luck? We now see the cheap date features in a bad economy. How to go out and enjoy each other on the cheap. Okay. There are only so many things you can do with little or no money, most of which are obvious, so why do we need six thousand articles depicting what we already know?
I wish among those being laid off the majority are the mediocre writers, dreadful pundits and lousy performers. But we all know that isn’t always the case. Maybe it is part of the “nice guys finish last” clause in life or that mediocre efforts are more richly rewarded. If you don’t believe me, look at Wall Street and the bonuses its employees have received for running the economy into the ground.
On the other hand, if the media wasn’t so dysfunctional it would be thinking progressively and wouldn’t be losing so much money. Chances are, some of the people they are laying off would serve you well as marketing communications people, publicity people, communications specialists, you get the idea. Bring them in and let them pump up your branding. There are plenty of advertising people out there in search of a job as well as the advertising and marketing folks who know how to work the Internet and all the other fun stuff of the modern world. Before you hire, perhaps hire someone who knows what questions to ask. Someone who could construct a preemployment screening program that would make sense for these particular hires.
For the more stouthearted, this may be the time to be hiring and building toward the future. With all the media out of work, a well rounded multimedia communications and marketing campaign may well be in the future you choose.
Check them out before you hire.
