Written By: Jake Studebaker
On Monday, July 23, an internal memo circulated around the New York Daily News Headquarters informing employees that the editorial staff would soon be cut by nearly 50 percent, including the acting Editor-in-Chief, Jim Rich, of whom tweeted out “If you hate democracy and think local government should operate unchecked in the dark, today is a good day for you.” This claim is not only blatantly arrogant, but also hilarious coming from the former EIC of a tabloid who got attention by simply hiring a photo shop worker to create covers depicting President Donald Trump in various embarrassing images.
The slashing of the editing staff is not indicative of the end of the paper by any means. Instead, it's an attempt to pivot attention from traditional media, so the company can focus on being seen as a more digitalized network. According to the memo obtained by Fox News, NYDN continues by stating that “The decisions announced today reflect the realities of our business and need to adapt to an ever-changing media environment.” The company refused to address the fact that part of their issue could very easily be the claim made in 2016, in which they smeared all Trump voters as mindless zombies. But of course, that incident was never mentioned in the memo.
This mass layoff of the editing departmentproves something many of us new wave media agencies have been predicting for a while, old media is dead. The written word has lost attention, and companies all over are needing to adjust. The very foundation of what the New York Daily Post was built on, people having time to sit and read a story they probably don’t care about, is gone. People like the content they can share on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere. These news agencies that have depended upon their readers had time to consume their content may need to start paying their readers over time.
The 24/7 culture we live in, that makes news break hourly, and attention shift at a moment’s notice is running these companies out of business. They are always on their phones, laptops, or computers and don’t have the interest in purchasing a newspaper that may have one decent article in a series of 10.
It is time old media learns from new media. People are always in motion, and rarely have time to slow down and read a newspaper. It is a wonderful time to begin this journey with Minutemen Media, as we are built exactly for this environment. Our staff is all digital natives, and we are all capable of integrating our content with the fast-paced society we live in today. The slashing of the New York Daily post’s staff by 50 percent gives companies like ours 50 percent more hope we will succeed.
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