The format of a My Take is 150 words – no more, no less – to express an opinion on a different topic each week. This week’s topic was layoffs.
By Gordon Lambie
Is it self-serving for a couple of reporters to publish their opinions on Postmedia cutting editorial jobs across the country? Sure. We absolutely have a personal stake in this, but just because we do, that doesn’t mean our readers don’t.
Layoff announcements among media have become regular events, but they shouldn’t be considered normal or good.
Losing writers and editors paves the way for more general, less interesting, less accurate reporting as an increasingly small group of people scrambles to say all there is to say day after day. Lower quality news then leads to lower sales, which results in another push to cut costs.
Asking fewer people to pump out better work with fewer resources just isn’t realistic or sustainable, and it feeds a deadly cycle.
Paying people is expensive, but what’s the societal cost of putting newsrooms through a death by 1,000 cuts?
