Awww: Media "News" "Workers" and "Journalists" Brace for Layoffs

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The afternoon email hit some inside CNN like a ton of bricks. The cable news channel, now under Warner Bros. Discovery (its second owner in just a few years) was going to face budget cuts and layoffs. "There is widespread concern over the global economic outlook, and we must factor that risk into our long-term planning," CNN CEO Chris Licht wrote in a late-October memo.

At a network town hall on Nov. 15, Licht confirmed to moderator Alisyn Camerota that layoffs will hit the division in December. Those cuts are part of an industrywide pivot, as media giants prepare for a difficult winter, seeking to reduce costs however they can. And news divisions will not be spared.

At Disney, CEO Bob Chapek sent a memo to division leaders Nov. 11 outlining a hiring freeze, canceling all travel not deemed "essential" and a new "cost structure task force" that will pursue "organizational enhancements."

"We do anticipate some staff reductions as part of this review," Chapek warned, adding that some decisions would be "tough and uncomfortable."

Disney-owned ABC News, led by Kim Godwin, is not exempt from those orders, as she told staff in a Nov. 14 edit meeting.

"Just a few months ago, Disney's now ex-CEO [Bob] Iger stated 'linear TV and satellite is marching toward a great precipice and it will be pushed off.' With Disney management's FY 2023 guidance, it appears that that cliff may be closer than any of us thought," MoffettNathanson's Michael Nathanson wrote Nov. 9, underscoring the challenges facing the company.

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And while thus far Disney and CNN parent WBD are the only media companies to openly discuss layoffs, there are signs that others will follow.

At CBS News parent Paramount, executives are signaling that they are pursuing a similar strategy. "I do think that there's a potential for a restructuring charge in Q4," Paramount CFO Naveen Chopra said on the company's Q3 earnings call Nov. 2, adding that the expected cost savings would be "meaningful and sizable."

And at NBCUniversal, the company has offered early retirement packages to employees with 10 years of service who are age 57 or older, including employees at the NBC News Group, led by Cesar Conde. A source adds that the company has since lowered the age of eligibility for the buyouts, suggesting a low take rate.

At Breitbart, John Nolte is very very sad for his friends at CNN.

The impending bloodbath at far-left CNN is destroying the fake news outlet's morale, a 20-year staffer said.

This revelation occurred during a recent company meeting where CNN chief Chris Licht confirmed that layoffs are coming in early December.

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Reports say, "Licht has been tasked by his boss David Zaslav to trim $100 million from CNN's budget to appease Warner Bros' Discovery."

During the meeting, per these reports, one staffer said "they had been with the company for 20 years and had never seen morale lower than it was right now."

There have been a welter of crisis-has-never-been-lower-at-CNN stories lately. From November 1:

The latest instance involved longtime CNN journalist Jim Sciutto, who is expected to return to the air after going on personal leave following a mysterious incident in Amsterdam. CNN employees are reportedly "pissed" that Sciutto is regaining his on-air position even as the network braces for a round of layoffs.

"Morale is at an all-time low," sources told the Daily Beast late Monday. "It's worse than it has ever been."

Sciutto faced an internal investigation at CNN after he purportedly suffered a "serious fall" during a stop in Amsterdam. The incident occurred after Sciutto and an unnamed producer stopped in Amsterdam on the way home from a reporting trip to cover the war in Ukraine, though other colleagues who made the trip took direct flights home from Poland.

Mysterious incident? What's the Post trying to say?

posted by Ace at 12:18 PM

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