Major round of layoffs at 37 Gannett media sites

Dan Robinson

Dan Robinson

EF5
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St. Louis
https://twitter.com/romenesko/status/859860425680330753

The implosion of the mainstream media continues. This news comes on the heels of the big ESPN layoff spree.

I don't know how many of you still do any stringer work and are seeing the same thing I am, but my ENG sales are at an all-time low during the past 12 months. Something big is happening in the industry, whether the Youtube thing is just a coincidence remains to be seen.

The takeaway is don't go out of your way to establish any type of career in news/video. Whatever exists now may not be there in 5 years.
 
I think 5 years is generous. News stations are actively asking their viewers to send them pics and video. With the proliferation of smart phones and the lure of recognition on tv it's going to be hard to make a sale when they will get it for free.
 
Video as a whole is probably growing, just not news (or ESPN apparently). Local stations are struggling as it is, and the rise of the "citizen journalist" is decentralizing information distribution by providing social coverage (albeit usually low quality) AS events happen compared to higher quality reporting hours after.

On the flip side though, if you're a good video producer with diversified skills looking for a job, it's an applicant's field if you're ok with relocating.
 
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Dan Robinson said:
The takeaway is don't go out of your way to establish any type of career in news/video. Whatever exists now may not be there in 5 years.
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Funny thing is... I just had a job interview at a local newspaper last Monday. Haven't heard back yet, but one of my questions was whether or not they had experienced any layoffs recently. One guy said there had been layoffs on Friday, and the other three people in the room didn't even know about it.
 
Andrew Constans said:
On the flip side though, if you're a good video producer with diversified skills looking for a job, it's an applicant's field if you're ok with relocating.
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Many of the medium-small market TV stations have gone "MMJ" (multimedia journalist) or "VJ" where the cameraman and reporter job is done by the same person - they write, shoot and edit their own stories. They've eliminated many of the traditional cameraman jobs. Many are shooting with prosumer gear, the same type of cameras many chasers use. If you can do more than just shoot video, there may still be some opportunities still out there - for now.
 
I've been noticing this trend since starting college as a communication (TV/radio production concentration) major. I started out learning news, but I've actually been switching gears less toward news and more toward commercial production. Thankfully I've landed an internship in creative services for the summer. Hopefully that will help in networking.
 
I'm just surprised a certain new-ish weather TV network has been able to keep themselves afloat as long as they have. Imagine they are going to be gone soon too. TV is a medium that seems to be holding on perhaps a few years too late at this point. Newspapers are a decade and a half over their worth. It's an interesting field right now for sure.
 
I regularly do interviews with the local TV stations and over the last few years, I have noticed that the reporter is now lugging in the camera him or herself, setting up and doing the interview. In years past, they have always brought a separate camera person.

Bill Hark
 
A side effect of all of this is that some are getting predatory and untrustworthy. I had an instance recently where a network expressed interest in video, then didn't buy after I'd taken time off of work to go shoot, edit and upload a package. Never had that happen before. Watch your back and don't do anything for free or cheap, now more than ever they are doing every trick in the book to take advantage of chasers. If you do things like sell generic video for less than $250/network or good video for less than $600-700/network, it's just enabling the behavior. And if you're owed money, I'd be rattling some cages to get that paid ASAP. There is no future in this industry, so no reason to bend over backwards to try and earn good favor.
 
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Dan Robinson said:
Many of the medium-small market TV stations have gone "MMJ" (multimedia journalist) or "VJ" where the cameraman and reporter job is done by the same person - they write, shoot and edit their own stories. They've eliminated many of the traditional cameraman jobs. Many are shooting with prosumer gear, the same type of cameras many chasers use. If you can do more than just shoot video, there may still be some opportunities still out there - for now.
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The one thing that came to my mind while reading your post was that prior to my retirement a few years ago, I had a retail store in a market of a million people. I ran television commercials for my business on 4 of the largest networks available locally. Each station had a couple of full-time camera operators, and since I was the "on air talent" (too cheap to pay anybody else to do it, lol) in my commercials.....they shot the footage while I said my lines, and we'd crank out a 15 or 30 second commercial. I did this for years. I can't really envision tv stations ever getting rid of full-time camera men....those stations rely far too much on the revenue they receive from selling airtime.
 
joel ewing said:
The one thing that came to my mind while reading your post was that prior to my retirement a few years ago, I had a retail store in a market of a million people. I ran television commercials for my business on 4 of the largest networks available locally. Each station had a couple of full-time camera operators, and since I was the "on air talent" (too cheap to pay anybody else to do it, lol) in my commercials.....they shot the footage while I said my lines, and we'd crank out a 15 or 30 second commercial. I did this for years. I can't really envision tv stations ever getting rid of full-time camera men....those stations rely far too much on the revenue they receive from selling airtime.
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This is usually what falls under a station's "creative services". Commercials, promos, etc. This is what I'll be starting out as this summer.
 
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