US Media Jobs Losses In 2008 – One In 11 Newspaper Jobs Disappeared, One of 14 Radio Jobs Gone, And TV Lost One in 33, But Internet Media Companies Were Still Hiring

Philip Stone February 10, 2009

Everyone knows 2008 was a media disaster, for newspapers in particular, but it really hits home now that the analysts have translated the raw data and have proclaimed that one in 11 US newspaper jobs disappeared last year.

It wasn’t just newspapers, of course; radio saw 7.4% of its staff go, and TV got hit to a lesser degree – but may well feel the brunt this year – down 3.2%. And the ancillary industries got nailed, too. Advertising/marketing service firms such as the ad agencies cut 3.1% of their staff.

The raw numbers came from the US Department of Labor and they were analyzed by trade publication AdAge. It says that in December alone 18,700 media-related jobs were lost bringing the total for the year to 65,100.

What makes these numbers really bad is that while they are for the whole year the bulk came in the second half of the year and Q4 particularly was a disaster. With many media companies reporting January revenues worse than December there is no let-up in sight – jobs will continue to go.

Even The New York Times Company reported that its Q4 digital revenues actually decreased from a year previously and it announced a near 10% cull for its About.com, so that raises the question for  how much longer will  the Internet-Media sector in general keep growing? The digital sector ended 2008 with a net up of 800 bringing to 82,200 its total employment -- its highest level in six years with hiring in marketing, sales, audience development and the like.

The reason all the various job loss percentages really stand out is because if the US economy is taken as a whole it lost 2.6% employment since the recession is thought to have started, and those media percentages are considerably higher.

According to the figures, newspapers lost 31,200 jobs, radio lost 8,100 and broadcast TV lost 5,100 so for those traditional media alone that’s 44,400 jobs gone. 

Even the politicians are taking note of disappearing reporters. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says that fewer reporters covering the state capital in Sacramento is no good thing.  In a recent speech he noted that The Los Angeles Times is cutting 300 positions, and shrinking the number of daily sections from five to four, and MediaNews is making all non-union employees at its California newspapers take a week of unpaid leave, that covers about 3,300 workers at more than 50 newspapers.

Indeed, many media companies have introduced furloughs, unpaid leave, as a way of life. It’s a quick way of reducing costs and keeps treasured employees still on hand for when things get better, but because of strict tax laws the Feds insists that a furlough means absolutely no company business can be done – no phone calls, emails and the like.

“It saddens me when I hear that the newspapers have to lay off writers because I think we need the writers, they are important," said Schwarzenegger. "The more coverage different subjects get, the better it is for the people of California." The Los Angeles Times, of course, now has an editor who takes management orders. When ordered to cut newsroom staff, Russ Stanton doesn’t say “no” as did his three predecessors – who were then fired -- he instead asks, “How many?” The overall reasoning for the job losses and reducing the number of sections daily (reduces press runs) as given by Times publisher  Eddy Hartenstein is simple, “We're trying to get ahead of what we see as a very tough year ahead of us.We're no different from any other company in any other sector that I know of."

It was Schwarzenegger, of course, who showed his support for newspapers back in 2006 when he told The Times how important he thinks it is for children to learn early that they should read newspapers. He and his wife, he said,  “are teaching our children to read the paper in the morning. We started with their favorite section, with Patrick it’s sports. One of the girls looks for the fashion thing, and the other looks for movies. We’re teaching them that when they get up in the morning and come down and make breakfast, read a page. Whatever your favorite page is, we want to create this thing that gets you addicted to it.”

Just when things look at their bleakest along comes words of  reader encouragement such as this from  Roberta Andersen of Orwigsburg, Pennylvania, who wrote to her local Republican-Herald, “While I respect my computer, visit Google on occasion and try and keep up with our high-tech world, there is nothing like sitting down with a hot cup of morning coffee and reading my daily paper. Thank you, Republican-Herald. Whatever you have to do to stay afloat, you will have this reader’s full support.”

And so say, we hope, we all.