Donald Trump bragged that the media's economic fortunes would decline if he wasn't president any more. Leftists wouldn't need the media so much to keep them updated on a daily basis on whether America would survive once Biden took over. The latest proof? Liberal-pleasing National Public Radio announced they would be laying off ten percent of its workforce,
NPR media reporter David Folkenflik shared the bad news, that NPR CEO John Lansing "cited the erosion of advertising dollars, particularly for NPR podcasts, and the tough financial outlook for the media industry more generally.” The perception of an impending economic downturn is depressing the advertising/underwriting market.
On an annual budget of roughly $300 million, Lansing says, revenues are likely to fall short by close to $30 million, although that gap could reach $32 million.
"We're not seeing signs of a recovery in the advertising market," Lansing says in an interview. "Nothing is nailed down yet except the principles and what we know we have to reach."
NPR's programming division, which produces its industry-leading podcasts, has more than doubled since 2019.
That puts the current cuts in context. Lansing pledged to remain committed “1,000 percent” to their podcasts. He also vowed to make sure job cuts do not "fall disproportionately on employees of color." Socialists might complain a "public" radio network shouldn't rely on underwriting dollars. It should be all tax money.
Folkenflik underlined that these hard times are common across the (liberal) media landscape: after its merger with Warner Brothers, CNN cuts hundreds of job and deep-sixed its brand-new CNN+ streaming service. Vox Media cut jobs by seven percent, Gannett (whose top property is USA Today) by six percent. The Washington Post eliminated its Sunday magazine and some other jobs.
It's happened in social media, too: "Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft have announced more than 50,000 job cuts combined in just the past few months."
NPR claims only two percent of its revenues come from the federal government. Don't buy that. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting sends taxpayer dollars directly to stations, and the stations then send money back for programming.
