Deborah Douglas’ Post

I've been on LinkedIn for... longer than I would care to admit. What I will admit is that I've never been active on it. I've perused, I've scrolled, I've even lurked. But when it comes to making myself or my thoughts known. I haven't said a word. However. As a freelance journalist in 2024, it would be hard pressed for me to sit here in the current climate we are in and not have about a million and a half words constantly trying to escape my brain. Here's a few. The Institute for Independent Journalists (of which I am proud to sit on the board) took a survey of nearly 200 journalists who were impacted by the wave(s) of layoffs that have swept the industry over the last few years. The numbers though perhaps not surprising, are entirely disheartening. The findings and the context behind them were recently published in the Columbia Journalism Review (written by the amazing writer and IIJ Founder Katherine X Reynolds Lewis) and The Objective (written by James Salanga) and I couldn't be more proud to see the kind of conversations that are coming out of this work. If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, let me give you a brief breakdown of the numbers - and perhaps an even clearer reason why I've decided to break my LinkedIn silence lol. Of the 176 people we surveyed: Journalists of color represented 42% of the respondents. Yet, we only make up 17% percent of the journalism workforce. Journalists who identify as women represented 68% of the respondents. Yet, we only make up 46% of the journalism workforce. And journalists between the ages of 26-45 made up 70% of the respondents. Yet... I could carry this on for a while but I think these are the numbers that stood out to me more than anything else in the results. Journalism is more than a career. At least to me. It's an ancestral responsibility akin to being a griot or a storyteller. You, I, we as journalists, have been tasked with the heavy weight of being the ones who ensure that our current world's stories, struggles, fears, loves and triumphs are not lost in the ether. Yet... These layoffs paint a fairly telling picture that certain voices, certain perspectives, and certain viewpoints are no longer welcome in the newsrooms. Or, perhaps more indicatively, remind us that those voices were never welcome in the first place - and were merely tolerated in order to satisfy an internal quota. Whatever the case may be. We as journalists certainly have our work ahead of us. https://bit.ly/CJRxTheIIJ

"Layoffs in journalism since 2022 have disproportionately impacted people of marginalized genders and people of color, according to a new report from the Institute of Independent Journalists (IIJ). It collects data from a survey with 176 journalist respondents who had undergone a layoff or buyout since 2022." This mirrors the impact of layoffs in tech, and likely other industries. In 2023, Prism reported that: "Recent surveys have found that women, people of color, disabled workers, and other marginalized groups are disproportionately affected by mass layoffs in tech despite being underrepresented in the industry. According to Harvard Business Review, companies rely heavily on position and tenure when deciding on cuts, which translates to wiping out “most or all of the gains they’ve made in diversity.”" This is damning in itself, but also suggests that many diversity gains were in positions closer to entry level than management level. The irony for journalism is that it's the diverse members of newsrooms who can help them find broader audiences by ensuring that diverse perspectives are represented both in coverage and in management decisions. For a declining industry, it's a self-sabotaging thing to do. But, again, it says a lot about the demographics of the people who make the decisions.

My latest for Forbes #layoffs #laidoff #careers #jobs #journalism #blacklinkedin #journalists #journalist #careers #goodreads #articles #writingcommunity #writinglife #writingjourney #journalismmatters #journalismjobs #bipocmentalhealth #mentalhealth #bipoc #representationmatters #inclusion #diversity #storytelling

This article misses the mark on many levels in my opinion, but the following line stood out to me the most. “Every news director in America is now a therapist in addition to everything else on an overflowing plate.” Caring about your employees’ mental health and well-being is part of being a manager in all fields. Not working your employees to the ground or to the brink of mental breaks shouldn’t be such a burden. Doing the bare minimum to be a decent and considerate human is hardly the same as being a therapist. The news companies are profitable. Many of the stations are profitable. Lower or stop dividends, value your product, and pay your people! All of those will fix your recruiting problem.

Blaming colleges for the problems in professional journalism — now that’s what I call innovative. LOL! It borders on misdirection. Because we ALL know it’s about the money. Better pay = better staff. The tenets and foundational teachings in news gathering haven’t changed since the days of the town crier. Only the methodologies of dissemination. The core principles of accuracy, accuracy, accuracy remain the same. Good writing is a plus, but we’re not doing literature here. Even the inverted pyramid is not sacrosanct anymore when it comes to compelling storytelling. It’s not the colleges’ fault. At all. There is a howling vacuum of solid newsroom leadership. The (often forced) migration of gray hairs out of the business has been devastating to despicable. Cubs can teach each other nothing useful. It’s the tutelage of experienced lions that helps them learn what they need to thrive. That’s also what’s missing. Because of the money. Healthy newsrooms reeducate their rookies. They are the crucibles that will make them stronger, better, faster. And if they don’t make the cut … oh, well. The business has always been Darwinian. But to ask the best to compete at food stamp wages — even into the mid-markets? Again, LOL!

What's happening: The recent layoffs of Hispanic and other journalists of color, including prominent figures like Jean Guerrero at the Los Angeles Times, have sparked concerns about the diminished capability to address and counteract disinformation targeted at Latino communities. As the media landscape grapples with job cuts, experts highlight the crucial role that Latino journalists play in identifying and debunking misinformation within their own communities. The layoffs come at a critical juncture, with warnings of rising disinformation during an election year. The reduction of trusted voices in newsrooms may have significant implications for countering disinformation and ensuring democratic norms, particularly as misinformation targeting Latinos becomes a growing concern. Advocates emphasize the need for diverse voices to combat disinformation effectively and maintain trust during a crucial election season where communication and trust are paramount. https://brnw.ch/21wGNSE #LatinoBuzz #LatinoJournalist #Layoffs #LatinoRepresentation #DisInformation

Not all social media intentions are a home run. Rather, this one tugged at the heartstrings of journalists- and industry seeing many layoffs, when the world actually needs their skills and thorough research to present the facts. I wanted to be a journalist. I went to a college known for its journalism but after graduating I realized the roles were tough to come by and fell into marketing communications for large corporates. And I’m lucky I did! I love my job. I love what I do and I’m thankful beyond measure that I learned how to ask questions, get the details and write. For my colleagues in the journalism field, reach out if you ever find your job eliminated! The world- especially corporate companies need talented writers! #journalism #writing #contentmarketing

Here's the latest Three Things on Substack. #journalism #jobloss #layoffs #financialjournalism #journalismschool

We all often operate in our own worlds within our own industries, and for all of you in journalism, it's no secret that this past week (and really over the course of the last few months) the news industry has been absolutely gutted in a lot of ways. Major papers have gone through gut-wrenching buyouts, horrible layoffs and have even shuttered altogether. My heart absolutely breaks for all the journalists who have been affected by these decisions that were all made way above their pay grades. (I saw one woman mention this was her second time being laid off over a single 12-month period. That shouldn't even be possible.) I cannot emphasize enough that no one who gets into this industry does so for the money. (As you can see, there's not a lot of it in most instances.) They really, really love the work. When you disrupt newsrooms in these ways, you really disrupt families of people who have all coalesced around this same idea that the news and truth-telling and shedding light on complicated but important topics and teaching people things really, really matters and is so essential to a functioning democracy. I've met my husband through journalism, my best friends, my mentors and more and I owe it so, so much. I've always struggled with it being such a big part of my identity (since it can be tough emotionally and mentally to have your self-worth so heavily associated with your job) but I also completely get how it happened. No one gets into this lightly. The people who do this day in and day out are so incredibly passionate and it's hard when you're one of them not to get wrapped up in that passion —otherwise you would've picked something else to spend your life doing. I talked with a college friend recently also, though, about people who leave journalism to go do something else. We laughed at how just a decade ago in college we'd judge these people. But now I've realized, most of those people didn't leave news because they didn't love it or think it wasn't important or anything of the sort. There were other factors at work like crappy bosses, tough work environments, pressures (and the subsequent fallout) from layoffs and the like. Those stories were always more complicated than we saw from the outset. I don't have a point in posting this aside from to say, I pray all of these great people who have been affected by this industry-wide earthquake land on their feet and stick with this work for the long haul if that's what they want to do. And I hope everyone in journalism school keeps at it and goes on to do awesome work in the industry. The world really, really needs amazing journalists and I couldn't have been raised as a person by a more incredible group of people. If there's anything anyone in the industry can do in support of anyone affected by these recent events, whether it's loan you their dog for comfort, buy you a beer or listen to you rant, I think I speak for everyone in the business when I say we're all here for that and more.

The future for new journalists: low pay, long hours, job insecurity, and less meaning. From The Conversation US: "With a median wage in 2023 of $57,500, journalists’ salaries have not kept pace with inflation or jobs in public relations and corporate communication. "Job security, as ongoing layoffs suggest, is nearly nonexistent. Recent drives to unionize newsrooms have done little to stem losses, and they do nothing at all for the freelancers that constitute a growing share of all journalists – and, for the most part, belong to no union at all. "Inside or outside newsrooms, work typically involves longer hours and more demands. "And to what end? In many cases, it’s to perform tasks that aren’t that interesting or socially valuable. "The journalists we spoke to bemoaned the relentless demands to churn out new content for websites and social media feeds. They talked about using multimedia to report on topics that were assigned primarily for their potential to amuse and entertain, rather than to inform or provoke thought. They griped about spending more time sitting at their desks sifting through press releases instead of gathering original reports from the field. And they described fewer and fewer opportunities to pursue stories that are personally interesting and socially valuable."