No, Seriously, It’s a F*ckin’ Bloodbath In Media Right Now

So you guys know how I’m always like “yeah it’s been savage in the media world” lately and “omg there are no media jobs” and “publishing is in major trouble”? So yesterday Random House announced a major, major company reorganization which is ousting two legendary publishers. In the book world, this is a BFD. Some other bookworld sh*t went down yesterday, too, prompting Publisher’s Lunch (a daily industry email news roundup) to call it “Black Wednesday." Anyway, prompted by all of this and not feeling particularly inclined to use my lunch hour for company purposes, I decided to pull together a roundup of How Bad Things Have Been in media this year.

See below for something long and scary. And keep in mind that I really, really trimmed it. (Since newspapers have been in a continual state of triage this year, it would take many pages to round up all of their news. I’ve only included big news from earlier this year up to October; after that, we’ll go into a fun close-up.) Also, this blog called Paper Cuts, which is devoted to following the news of paper, well, cuts, has come up with this number for newspaper jobs lost in 2008: 14,447. You can see it in more detail on the site.

Also, keep in mind that many media companies (besides the big conglomerates like Time Inc and Tribune Co) have smaller staffing numbers than you might expect. A mid-level magazine can operate with only 20-30 people total. Book company news is highlighted in red.

January through September:

Jan 10: McGraw-Hill cuts 600 jobs across the board, a 3% company reduction.

Feb 13: Tribune Co. announces 500 job cuts across newspaper divisions. This will eventually include 150 staff members from the LA Times; on top of buyouts offered earlier, the LAT will now have 20% fewer editorial positions than last year.

March 30: Over 100 staffers accept buyouts at Newsweek. Layoffs are to come to make up the difference between this number and what is “needed.”

April 10: Nielsen Business Media (which publishes Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, Editor & Publisher and the Hollywood Reporter) lays off 40-50 staffers.

Early May: The New York Times completes its months-long cull of 100 reporters and editors. (Ed note: This is their first newsroom layoff--ever.)

July 16: The Wall Street Journal eliminates 50 editorial/newsroom. Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced that it’s cutting almost 200 jobs (8% of its total workforce).

Mid-July: Hearst folds Quick & Simple.

Aug 14: Gannett Co. (largest newspaper company in the US) cuts 1,000 workers, of 3% of workforce.

Sept 30: NY Sun folds.

October:

Oct 10: Hearst folds CosmoGirl.

Also folding in Oct: Radar, Men's Vogue (CondeNast), 02138, Culture + Travel, DNR (CondeNast), Motor Trend, Compact Sports Auto

Oct 15: City Magazines (part of Niche Media) cuts 20-30 jobs.

Oct 16: Playboy cuts 80 jobs.

Oct 22: Time magazine (which famously dribbled out a huge layoff over the course of the entire year), which recently announced that no more cuts will be made, announces that they lied! 200 more staffers will go in the next 2 weeks.

Oct 27: LAT lays off 27 editorial staffers, or about 10% of ed staff (do they even have anyone left over there?). Also, Newark Star-Ledger announces a 40% newsroom staff cut.

Oct 30: CondéNast cuts 5% of staff, and announces 5% budget cuts for all titles; Portfolio loses 20% of its staff. Also, Doubleday (part of Random House) lays off 10% of its staff.

November:

Nov 3: Rodale (a former employer) lays off 111 employees—10% of its workforce. Also, the Seattle Times lays off about 130 workers, also 10% of its staff.

Nov 7: Hearst announces major layoffs across the board, including at Esquire, Redbook, and Good Housekeeping.

Nov 10: People magazine looks for 20 voluntary separations. (this is part of the 600-person Time Inc reduction)

Nov 11: Time Inc international will also be cutting, possibly up to 10% of its staff. CondeNet lays off 60 staffers (part of the 5% reduction announced on Oct 30).

Nov 13: National Geographic announces 5-10% staff cuts across company. (Ed note: Particularly horrible: they laid off their cartographer! Where is he going to find another job?!)

Nov 14: Forbes.com lays off entire staff of ForbesAuto.com. The Street.com closes its SF office.

Nov 17: MTV announces that it is planning 2 layoff rounds, in early Dec and in Jan.

Nov 18: Focus on the Family lays of 149, or 21% of staff.

Nov 20: The AP announces that in 2009 it will “loose” 10% of its staff.

Nov 21: Modern Luxury cuts over half of staff. Magazine may fold into another. Also,Source Overlink (auto publisher) cuts 150 jobs and folds at least 2 magazines.

Nov 25: Harcourt freezes manuscript acquisitions! Kids, this means the trade division of the company is folding. You cannot run a publishing company without acqs.

Thank god, the carnage stops for Thanksgiving. Those of us who survive breathe a little.

This week:

Dec 2: The publisher of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt resigns (with no company line explanation, not even the usual "leaving to spend more time with my family" bs).

Dec 3:

• Simon & Schuster lays off 35. Niche Media folds Atlanta Magazine.
• Random House announces major, major reorganization in which 2 of its 5 flagship imprints will be divided into the 3 other imprints. Publishers for both Doubleday and Bantam are let go. I imagine that layoffs in the spring will follow as a result of the staffing redundancies that are being created during the merging.
• Thomas Nelson announces layoffs of 10%.
• HMH starts layoffs, which are continuing today . Like I said: you can’t have a publishing house if you’re not acquiring. HHM’s parent company, Education Media and Publishing Group, is pretty obviously giving up.

Dec 4, today:

• MTV closes NY off of Rhapsody America; lays off 25.
• Viacom announces layoffs of 850 people—this is just round 1 of the 2 currently planned, remember!—which is 7% of its staff.
• NBC Universal starts a layoff process which is expected to continue into next week, in which 500 jobs are expected to be cut.
• HarperCollins and Pearson (Penguin) both announce 2009 salary freezes, which is totally to be expected. I anticipate that RH and S&S will follow suit. (Although apparently Hachette is giving everyone bonuses equivalent to 1 week's salary. This is probably due entirely to the success of the Twilight series. Grrr.)

And this afternoon, chickadees, I will be attending my third "what this reorganization means" meeting in two days. I am looking forward to it, you'll understand.