by Jason Cohen
Numerous legacy media outlets are struggling with challenges posed by President Joe Biden’s economy and resorting to drastic measures, Axios reported on Friday.
Close to a dozen of these outlets are firing workers, dealing with employee strikes or looking to sell, according to Axios. The Federal Reserve’s imposition of high interest rates to bring down inflation is hindering their ability to accumulate more debt, complicating their efforts to extend the timeline for resolving their financial difficulties.
For instance, the Los Angeles Times announced it would lay off more than 100 journalists Tuesday as the publication lost as much as $40 million a year, reducing its newsroom employees by 20%.
Moreover, Forbes’ newsroom union launched its first ever three-day strike on Thursday and its CEO unveiled layoffs that would impact 3% of the outlet later that same day, according to Axios. Insider also revealed it was letting go of 8% of its employees on Thursday, according to Semafor.
The New York Daily News launched a one-day strike on Thursday in opposition to “chronic cuts,” the News Guild of New York announced. Paramount CEO Bob Bakish informed employees in a memo that the network will be cutting more workers the same day following previous rounds of layoffs, CNBC reported.
“Our priority is to drive earnings growth,” Bakish wrote. “And we’ll get there by growing our revenue while closely managing costs — a balance that will require every team, division and brand to be aligned.”
The company is also in talks to sell or merge, Axios reported.
Media company Conde Nast launched a Tuesday strike of about 400 unionized workers, including those at Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair after the company announced layoffs would hit about 5% of its employees.
The consumer price index (CPI), a broad measure of the prices of everyday goods, rose 3.4% on an annual basis, while core CPI, which excludes energy and food, increased 3.9% year-over-year in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many economists have indicated Biden’s high-spending policies have contributed to high inflation as his 2021 American Rescue Plan added $1.9 trillion in new spending, while the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act approved $750 billion in new spending.
Furthermore, BuzzFeed has been in talks to unload two of its brands, Complex and Tasty, according to The Wall Street Journal. Media company Red Ventures is striving to sell one of its websites CNET, Axios reported.
The Arena Group recently let go of nearly the entire union staff of Sports Illustrated. Over 750 employees at The Washington Post launched a 24-hour strike in December, with the outlet planning to eliminate roughly 240 jobs.
The Fed is anticipating that it will lower the federal funds rate to 4.6% by the end of 2024, likely from three individual rate cuts of 0.25%, potentially bolstering the economy. Its federal funds rate is now set in a range of 5.25% and 5.50%, the highest in 22 years, in an effort to curtail high inflation.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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Jason Cohen is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Joe Biden” by President Joe Biden.
