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Labor Cuts At Liberal Media Outlets, Hundreds Being Let Go

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Nick Givas Media And Politics Reporter
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Major media outlets, including the Huffington Post, The New York Times, NBC, Vocativ, Newsweek and Time Inc., initiated major layoffs of their labor forces Tuesday and Wednesday.

TheNYT and Newsweek have been whispering about mass layoffs for the past year, while HuffPost and Time made their cuts just this week. The move will put hundreds of journalists and media staff out of work while helping digital media continue its rise as the primary source of news and information.

Time announced that it will be laying off about 300 employees through a series of buyouts and layoffs. The move will eliminate 4 percent of its workforce as it looks to cut costs in the midst of lagging sales.

HuffPost is offering its terminated workers a collectively bargained severance of two months’ salary, plus a week of pay for each year of service. Employees will also retain their benefits, including health insurance.

CNN commentator Frida Ghitis took to Twitter to comment on the severance packages, spelling out the math of how much severance someone would receive for 10 years of work.

Many are describing the firings as “corporate-wide layoffs” that were triggered as a result of Verizon purchasing Yahoo, HuffPost’s parent company. However, these aren’t the first news media companies to trim their staffs. Newsweek’s Margarita Noriega tweeted the companies that have begun downsizing the past few months.

Advertisers are increasingly choosing to go with digital media, abandoning hard copy publications in droves.

Michael Calderone tweeted out a statement detailing the firings and how HuffPost will handle them. Employees will continue to meet with management as part of “an ongoing process of labor-management discussions.”

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