National Public Radio was the latest media organization to implement mass layoffs, leading to the cancelation of multiple programs.
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NPR itself confirmed Thursday that it had cut 10% of its workforce on Thursday, impacting roughly 100 employees, adding that it tends to roll back the workforce from 1,200 to an estimated 1,050 employees, the “largest reduction in staff since the 2008 recession.”
“We literally are fighting to secure the future of NPR at this very moment by restructuring our cost structure. It’s that important. It’s existential,” NPR chief executive John Lansing told NPR’s media correspondent David Folkenflik.
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The liberal outlet also halted several podcasts: “Invisibilia,” “Louder Than a Riot,” “Rough Translation” and “Everyone & Their Mom.” None of its radio shows were canceled.
The cuts come after NPR assessed that ad revenue was set to drop $30 million in 2023.
“Every person on staff cares deeply about public radio’s mission and has worked hard to contribute to it. This is a painful time for everyone in this organization,” an NPR spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement.
According to NPR, most impacted staff will remain on the payroll until the end of April.
The Washington Post reported that Lansing signaled NPR management to work with its charitable foundation to seek more funding “if a deficit continues to widen.”
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NPR was far from the only news outlet that was impacted with layoffs. The Washington Post cut 20 staffers in January and an additional ten in November which resulted a “single-digit” shrinkage of its workforce, according to its publisher Fred Ryan.
CNN was hit with widespread layoffs late last year, which impacted rank and file staffers, journalists, pundits as well as the entire live programming staff of its sister network HLN. That followed hundreds of jobs that were scrapped or reshuffled following the demise of its failed streaming service CNN+.
Gannett, the newspaper juggernaut that owns dozens of local media outlets along with USA Today, implemented layoffs in November. The cost-cutting effort impacted roughly 6% of the company’s news workforce of about 3,440 employees.
Mass layoffs also impacted Big Tech. Meta cut 11,000 positions last fall and Salesforce began trimming its workforce by 10%. Amazon slashed over whopping 18,000 jobs while Microsoft cut 10,000 workers.
