lolgf: Laid-Off Reporters Launch a New Side-Hustle to "Save Journalism"

Here's another way to "save journalism:" sign up to be an Uber driver and tell people the news when you drive them to Arby's.

Two reporters fired amid widespread industry-wide layoffs this year are launching a nonprofit organization to protect other journalists from a similar fate as big tech companies continue to threaten the industry's viability.

Psst: "Non-profits" mean they there is no profit that flows to stakeholders.

But founders and officers of the company still draw salaries!

So let's not pretend that this is something other than what it is: A side-hustle for "journalists" who can't get work at even the shittiest, trashiest websites.

Laura Bassett, a former culture and political reporter at HuffPost, and John Stanton, a former BuzzFeed News Washington bureau chief, founded the Save Journalism Project. It aims to save the industry from the "monopolistic power of big tech companies," according to a news release.

Well, it seems they realized that big tech companies can be dangerous the moment they got shit-canned.

According to the Save Journalism founders, firms like Google and Facebook dominate the digital advertising market, distributing news content without paying to produce it and dismantling traditional newspapers and digital news outlets.

The newly founded nonprofit estimates 2,400 journalists lost their jobs in 2019 so far.

Outstanding. Oh, I definitely want to destroy Google and Facebook, don't get it twisted.

But I can't say I'm upset that they're driving "journalists" into more honest occupations, like skimming money off the stupid.

In part, the Save Journalism Project aims to educate journalists on the side of the industry reporters tend to ignore -- the business side.

Bassett told BuzzFeed she never paid attention to the financial side of journalism before her recent layoff.

Oh perfect! Someone who admits she has absolutely no knowledge of the business side of journalism has started a donation-seeking organization to teach other journalists about the business side of journalism.

That sounds... pretty journalistic, actually! People who have absolutely no knowledge about a field presuming to lecture others about it and calling themselves "experts" in that area.

Meanwhile, Vice is reportedly laying off "senior editors" because Vice is trash and that trash is on fire and that fire is burning money.

Vice.com laid off its editor-in-chief Jonathan Smith and managing editor Rachel Schallom in a shakeup Tuesday which suggests cuts and restructuring are continuing as Vice Media looks to become profitable in 2019.

Oh, I'm sure you're on your way to profitability now.

Oh, and, obviously: Learn to code, bitches.

posted by Ace of Spades at 01:16 PM

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