More layoffs at magazines
Last week ended with more people being made redundant at leading magazines. After reporting earlier layoffs now another 100 people will be laid off at Forbes which is 20% of the workforce. In the same week Time inc has announced plans to cut $100 million in cost, which is expected to lead to large numbers of staff loosing their job. Finally, the Wall Street Journal announced at the end of the week taht it will shut its Boston bureau.
Week’s layoffs put an end to the Forbes Life
New York Post | October 31, 2009
Quote: The toll keeps mounting at Steve Forbes’ Forbes Media, with about 100 people laid off this week.
Wall Street Journal Says So Long To Beantown – BusinessWeek
Business Week | October 31, 2009
Quote: Following on recent news of staff reductions at The New York Times and Forbes, The Wall Street Journal announced today that it is shuttering its Boston bureau, long a hub of education, mutual fund and investigative reporting. Nine reporters will be affected
Time Inc. to Cut $100 Million; Extensive Layoffs Are Expected – Media Decoder Blog – NYTimes.com
mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com | October 31, 2009
Quote: Signaling that worse times are ahead for magazines, Time Inc. is expected to announce next week that it will cut $100 million from costs, including another big round of layoffs.
What’s a magazine production* person to do? Our jobs are being phased out in huge cost-cutting efforts by publishing companies. What are you doing? Learning HTML? Leaving the industry altogether? Happy to say my job seems secure at the moment, but who can say what’s around the corner. I’ve been doing this, under one workflow or another, for over 20 years…
*I know “production” can mean something different wherever you go. I define it as typography, prepress, making the designers loose layouts print-ready, and working as a link between editorial and art.