McClatchy announces layoffs of more than 90 journalists in the US — Taipei Times
In the United States, media company McClatchy has announced the layoffs of more than 90 journalists across 17 publications, including one-third of the Miami Herald staff. This was stated in a column by Bloomberg Opinion political columnist Mary Ellen Klas, published by Taipei Times.
McClatchy explained the layoffs by the economics of subscriptions and a 41% decline in consumer revenue over the past five years. At the same time, Klas noted that the company, which is owned by hedge fund Chatham Asset Management, reported significant investments in content created by artificial intelligence in June. According to the author’s description, AI agents were meant to rework reporters’ materials and publish them under their names in order to increase traffic.
Cutbacks in local newsrooms
The author noted that the layoffs affected, among others, investigative journalists at the Charlotte Observer, an Idaho reporter who wrote about a hospital, a Miami Herald city reporter, and the Lexington Herald-Leader team covering city and Kentucky state government bodies. McClatchy also cut employees who wrote about school boards, county commissions, the environment, sports, and topics for Spanish-speaking audiences.
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Klas believes that reducing the number of local reporters weakens public oversight of government and makes audiences more vulnerable to disinformation. She cited research according to which reliance on social media instead of local media is linked to increased isolation, political polarization, and reduced civic engagement.
Lawsuits and support for media
The columnist also mentioned a lawsuit by The New York Times and other news organizations against Microsoft and OpenAI over copyright infringement. The plaintiffs claim that the technology companies bypassed paywalls on news websites and collected their content to train large language models. Microsoft and OpenAI, according to the column, said that such use is protected by the fair-use principle and that the content is sufficiently transformed.
Among the possible ways to support local journalism, Klas named a tax credit for newsrooms intended to fund the salaries of local reporters. According to her data, six states have already adopted such a policy, while California lawmakers supported a corresponding proposal that is awaiting a decision by Governor Gavin Newsom.
