Another media company lays off staff

The website Axios reported Friday that The Economist Group is laying off 90 from its staff of 1,300. Its life and culture print publication, “1843,” will move to a digital-only publication.

“It's the latest media company that's been forced to take drastic measures to survive the economic fallout of the coronavirus,” writes Axios.

The pandemic is forcing dozens of major media companies, including newer, digitally-native media companies, to carry out layoffs and pay cuts, writes Axios. “The Economist Group joins The Hollywood Reporter, Fortune, Billboard, Group Nine Media, BuzzFeed, Vox Media, Bustle Digital Group, Cheddar, Maven Media, G/O Media, Protocol and others who have resorted to layoffs and furloughs.”

Few newspapers in the United States have been spared.

According to the Washington Post: “While newspapers — many held by heavily indebted chain owners — have been hit hard, the broader media landscape has pits in it at every turn. Alternative weeklies and city magazines, dependent on ads from restaurants, museums and local attractions, were the first to hang out urgent appeals for reader donations; several have closed, and others are contemplating it. Even local TV stations, the most resilient sector during the media’s troubled years, are hurting from the disappearance of two reliable advertisers — local car dealers and political candidates.”

In Cape Girardeau, the Southeast Missourian reduced its print frequency from six-days-a-week to three and furloughed several of its non-editorial staff.