Many Pros On The Loose As Publishers Retire Wishful Thinking

Michael Hedges July 21, 2020 Follow on Twitter

Only the least informed observers dispute that disruptions roiling from the coronavirus pandemic are serious and far reaching. Fair weather friends exclaiming it will all just go away are being ushered to the far end of the bar, maximum social distancing. Pollyannas had their moment, which now has passed. There is no sunny side of this street.

Still some seem shocked when major publishers and broadcasters take extreme measures to hold their footing during the storms. With little but recent history as a guide, most media endeavors held their collective breath hoping the bad news would pass; the vaunted V-shaped recovery. When that turned out to be as fanciful as a populist campaign speech, executives took the hard decisions.

Guardian Media Group (GMG), the UK publisher of the Guardian and Observer, announced last week (July 16) that 180 jobs would be cut, 70 in the newsroom. Objectively, this pales in contrast with more than ten times that number lost in customer-facing UK businesses since the first of July. Businesses touting their goods and services through advertising are cutting that investment, as well as retail space and employees. It all fits together.

Without fierce and immediate accounting determinism to the tune of GB£25 million (nearly €28 million), GMC will see “unsustainable annual losses in future years,” said chief executive Annette Thomas and chief editor Katherine Viner in a joint statement. Apart from the aforementioned newsroom, jobs will go in the advertising department, the Guardian Jobs portal and the live event business. None of this is too surprising as ad sellers have been twiddling their thumbs, UK businesses are cutting employment rather than using job placement ads and the live event business is dead as a doornail.

With about a million contributors contributing, Ms Thomas and Ms Viner, to the annoyance of publishing competitors, are not inclined to build that (pay) wall. “Despite the pressures that coronavirus has placed on our business, our unique reader relationship model has proved successful, and the strategy of the past few years has been the right one.” They have scaled-back weekend supplements and the US edition. Most disturbingly, they are not renewing award-winning cartoonist Steve Bell’s contract.

Earlier in July Reach plc, publisher of Daily Mirror, Daily Express and several titles, announced 550 jobs would be cut in a large-scale “restructuring.” Details of where and when the job cuts would bite were left vague. “Structural change in the media sector has accelerated during the pandemic and this has resulted in increased adoption of our digital products,” said chief executive Jim Mullen in a statement. “However, due to reduced advertising demand, we have not seen commensurate increases in digital revenue.” Some local titles may lose all editorial workers.

A month ago, News UK chief executive Rebekah Brooks warned of possible job cuts in an organizational “reset.” “We need to streamline the business and take some tough decisions, saying goodbye to some valued and talented colleagues,” she said, quoted by the Guardian (June 11). “We are now starting a process of reviewing the business in detail and determining the areas that will drive our future growth.”

Outside the publishing world, UK public broadcaster BBC is back to cutting staff. In January 450 posts were set to go as part of a savings program. With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, news demand soaring, these cuts were cancelled. Then last week those jobs plus about 70 more were put on the block. Incoming Director General Tim Davie takes over from Tony Hall on September 1st. Mr. Davie has been chief executive of BBC Studios, the commercial production subsidiary, previously known as BBC Worldwide.

See also...

• Hot Topics - UK Newspapers