Vice Media is cutting its workforce by 15% and its sites by half

[SaysWho?]

https://www.businessinsider.com/vice-media-layoffs-amid-lower-revenue-and-traffic-slump-2018-11

 

Quote

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Brooklyn-based Vice Media is lowering its headcount by 10% to 15% of its workforce and is on track to miss its revenue goals for this year.

 

To make the cuts, Dubuc ordered a companywide hiring freeze six weeks ago and plans to trim staff through both the freeze and attrition.

 

[Greatoneshere]

A shame, they do some great reporting from time to time. 

[CitizenVectron]

What we're seeing right now (and will accelerate over the next 10 years) is the total destruction of the news-reporting industry in all forms. 

 

Local newspapers were the first to die, and many towns and cities no longer have any local papers. The ones that still have them are shells of their former selves, and don't have the resources to cover local politics and city halls. Eventually these will die too. What we will then be left with are the NYTs and the WaPos who will still cover national and international events, but will be shells of their former selves even in those areas.

 

The primary source of news then will be Facebook groups, which are already the primary source of news for right-wing online users. At that point (and currently, among some groups), there will be no vetting of stories, and no control over the veracity of viral content. 

 

I don't see any way to stop it. In Canada there are talks of the government subsidizing local news agencies in some way, but there is push-back against this even as the public supports local news not dying. And once it's gone it will never come back. Google killed newspapers, and Facebook is what will replace them.