If journalists are often told not to write “dog bites man” stories, the instruction is rarely literal. The layoffs at the LA Times did not happen in a vacuum: since the turn of the year, at least seven other newsrooms have cut jobs, if not quite as many. Condé Nast folded Pitchfork, its music magazine, into GQ and laid off at least twelve staffers in the process. As always at times of huge media cuts, the word “brutal” has been thrown around a lot. Recently, after members of Congress wrote to Soon-Shiong expressing concern about the (then still impending) cuts at the LA Times, Soon-Shiong wrote back that lawmakers themselves should do more to ensure that a robust free press survives.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 29, 2024 17:21 UTC