The journalism industry is in a death spiral

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Journalism is collapsing with major layoffs across the industry and national news brands shuttering.

Just today, the Los Angeles Times laid off 115 people. This follows layoffs at myriad other outlets.

The rise of independent journalism on social media has been great, but it’s increasingly hard for independent journalists to sustain a business online, and their work is often shadow-banned and demoted within tech company algorithms.

Anyone hoping billionaires might save the media will be disappointed. As the New York Times recently reported:

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, bought The Washington Post in 2013 for about $250 million. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong purchased The Los Angeles Times in 2018 for $500 million. Marc Benioff purchased Time magazine for $190 million in 2018. But it increasingly appears that the billionaires are struggling just like nearly everyone else.

Time, WaPo and The LA Times all lost millions of dollars last year and the difficulties facing the companies are getting only more severe. Web traffic has waned for many publishers as referrals from search engines like Google ebb, and the rise of new applications powered by artificial intelligence has the potential to erode readership further.

“These vitally important news publications still find themselves ‘transitioning’ from print to digital — with major ongoing legacy business costs — as they build brick by brick a mainly digital future,” said Ken Doctor, an analyst and media entrepreneur.
Mr. Doctor said the billionaires in the news industry were showing “greater signs of fatigue,” stemming from challenges including “news anxiety and avoidance and fierce advertising competition.”

“The very rich find it very difficult to lose money year over year,” Mr. Doctor said, “even if they can afford it.”

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