Vice Media terminates flagship program and announces 'painful' job cuts

Vice Media is the latest media outlet to announce layoffs. (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images/File)

Vice Media has announced "painful" layoffs, including canceling its flagship news program, as part of the most recent layoffs to strike the struggling news industry.

As part of a restructuring leading to layoffs, the youth-oriented media company announced Thursday that it will terminate the popular television program "Vice News Tonight."

"In response to the current market conditions and business realities facing VMG and the broader news and media industry, we are moving forward with some painful but necessary reductions, primarily across our News business," co-CEOs Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala wrote to employees in a memo.

It was not specified how many employees would be laid off, but sources told CNN that dozens would be affected.

BuzzFeed announced last week that it was closing its news division, and Nate Silver, founder of FiveThirtyEight, stated on Tuesday that he expected to leave ABC News due to job cuts at its parent company, Disney.

Other media outlets, including CNN, The Washington Post, NPR, Vox Media, and NBC News, have also reduced staff in recent months.

The layoffs reflect an industry-wide funding crisis that has raised existential concerns about journalism's future. According to the Pew Research Center, newsroom employment in the United States fell by more than a quarter between 2008 and 2021 due to the collapse of the conventional print advertising model.

Once considered one of the most promising names in digital media, Vice was once valued at nearly $6 billion at its zenith.

In the post-print advertising landscape dominated by Google and Meta, Vice, like other digital media firms, has struggled to translate its lofty ambitions into a viable business model.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Group Black had submitted an offer to purchase Vice for approximately $400 million.

Publish : 2023-04-28 11:54:00

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