Fake News HuffPost Announces Mass Layoff During Zoom Meeting; Writers Traumatized

Spring cleaning is here!

And we can begin by taking at the trash at fake news outlets such as HuffPost (formerly known as the Huffington Post).

All HuffPost writers were told to join a video meeting with the password “spring is here.”

They had no idea what the video call was about and simply thought that it was going to be a company-wide update.

But they were informed that if they didn’t receive an email by 1 pm, that would mean they were fired.

OUCH!

It turns out that 47 writers at HuffPost have been FIRED and will no longer work at the outlet.

As they say: “Go woke, go broke.”

Layoffs hitting HuffPost today, weeks after it was acquired by BuzzFeed:
– 47 staffers in the US
– exec editor Hillary Frey and international exec editor Louise Roug have decided to leave
– closing HuffPost Canada
– consultations on slimming down UK/ Aus https://t.co/70g5YfAxWM

— Steven Perlberg (@perlberg) March 9, 2021

BREAKING: BuzzFeed announced layoffs for the HuffPost newsroom on Tuesday, three weeks after acquiring HuffPost from Verizon Media in February. https://t.co/slfVoyqXAl

— HuffPost (@HuffPost) March 9, 2021

Mass layoffs announced at HuffPost today

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 9, 2021

It turns out that it’s not just the U.S. division of HuffPost that is suffering.

International HuffPost outlets were ENTIRELY shut down, including the Canadian version of the site.

BuzzFeed is shutting down HuffPost Canada and HuffPost Québec, just two weeks after they filed for union certification.

— Jonathan Goldsbie (@goldsbie) March 9, 2021

While Democrats are sad and crying at these layoffs…. do not be mistaken.

If the same thing happened at a conservative outlet such as Fox News or the National Review, they would be cheering and popping champagne bottles.

But… it turns out that traffic is TANKING at liberal sites.

Why?

Well… perhaps the people don’t like the fake news that is being pushed on them!

My feelings on the 47 @HuffPost layoffs:

Fuck them.

They’d have popped champagne had it happened at a conservative outlet.#WAR

— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) March 9, 2021

According to HuffPost itself:

BuzzFeed announced layoffs for the HuffPost newsroom on Tuesday, three weeks after acquiring HuffPost from Verizon Media in February.

Hillary Frey, the site’s executive editor, and Louise Roug, the executive editor for international, will be departing in a restructuring effort aimed at stemming financial losses.

HuffPost Canada will also shutter operations later this month.

A deal between BuzzFeed, HuffPost and Verizon Media was first made public in November. Verizon Media stated at the time that BuzzFeed and HuffPost would operate as “separate, distinct news organizations” with their own websites and editorial staff while BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti led the combined company.

It has been a particularly grim year for the media industry. The coronavirus pandemic undermined a business model already on shaky ground due to a massive shift in digital advertising spend toward tech giants Google and Facebook. Layoffs across the industry were on track to break records late last year, Variety reported.

Peretti told staffers that the decision, which will affect 47 U.S. employees, including eight in management, was made in order to “fast-track the path to profitability” for HuffPost, enabling the company to break even this year and eventually turn a profit. HuffPost’s losses totaled around $20 million in 2020, he said.

“Though BuzzFeed is a profitable company, we don’t have the resources to support another two years of losses,” Peretti said.

“We want to ensure the homepage remains a top destination on the internet,” he added. “We also want to maintain high traffic, preserve your most powerful journalism, lean more deeply into politics and breaking news, and build a stronger business for affiliate revenue and shopping content.”

Although the site has struggled financially for several years, some HuffPost staffers criticized the lack of resources expended to promote the site and its content under Verizon Media.

Several fired HuffPost writers have gone to social media to share their dismay.

Others are reflecting on their time at the outlet.

HuffPost employees, after a year of working through a pandemic that isn't over, were invited to a meeting today with the password "spring is here," where they were told 47 of them would be laid off. They would only know if they still had a job if they didn't receive an email by 1

— Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) March 9, 2021

Today I got laid off at HuffPost, after a decade of work I am so incredibly proud of. I am one of 47 of my deeply, beautifully, funny and talented and wonderful and kind colleagues who lost their jobs today.

I'm the most sad that we can't all hug each other. (Also… hire me?)

— Emma Gray (@emmaladyrose) March 9, 2021

After nine years at HuffPost, I am unfortunately saying goodbye to my incredible colleagues. I'm so proud of the work we've done.

If you're looking to hire someone who loves writing about public opinion, good data and awful puns, please get in touch.

— Ariel Edwards-Levy (@aedwardslevy) March 9, 2021

Don’t worry HuffPost journalists, you’ll soon be able to get jobs building solar panels in the new Biden economy!

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 9, 2021

While the official narrative is that 47 writers have been laid off, CNN is reporting that a total of 70 employees at HuffPost have been laid off.

This must include other staff that aren’t writers.

Perhaps developers, designers, etc.

According to CNN:

HuffPost officially merged with BuzzFeed on February 16. Less a month later, the site’s staff is being dramatically cut.

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced Tuesday that 47 of the 190 HuffPost employees in the US would be laid off and that HuffPost Canada would be shut down, affecting 23 employees. HuffPost union said the cuts in the US affected 33 of its members, representing 30% of its unit.
Peretti told staffers that the cuts were made to manage costs, adding that HuffPost’s losses exceeded $20 million last year and would be estimated to be similar this year.

“Though BuzzFeed is a profitable company, we don’t have the resources to support another two years of losses. The most responsible thing we can do is to manage our costs and ensure BuzzFeed — and HuffPost — are set up to prosper long-term.” Peretti said. “That’s why we’ve made the difficult decision to restructure HuffPost to reach profitability more quickly. Our goal is for HuffPost to break even this year.”

Verizon Media Group, the media division of Verizon (VZ) which also includes Yahoo and TechCrunch, agreed to sell HuffPost in November. Peretti was a cofounder of HuffPost, which launched in 2005 and grew to prominence for covering global news events for a digital audience. In recent years, Peretti has expressed a need to unite digital media companies to better compete for ad dollars with the tech platforms like Facebook and Google.

“[W]e aren’t buying HuffPost because of its illustrious past or my personal connection; we pursued this opportunity because we are excited about the future of HuffPost and all the potential it has to continue to define the media landscape for years to come,” Peretti wrote in an internal memo at the time of the sale.

Peretti and Verizon said at the time of the sale that HuffPost and BuzzFeed would be kept separate and no layoffs were immediately announced. Still, HuffPost staffers told CNN Business that they feared layoffs and other labor issues following their first meeting with Peretti. Both HuffPost and BuzzFeed have experienced several rounds of layoffs over the years. BuzzFeed laid off some staffers in May of last year.

HuffPost union criticized management for its decision in a statement on Tuesday.
“We are devastated and infuriated, particularly after an exhausting year of covering a pandemic and working from home,” HuffPost union said on Tuesday. “This is also happening less than a month after HuffPost was acquired by BuzzFeed. We never got a fair shot to prove our worth.”

HuffPost has operated without an editor in chief since Lydia Polgreen left in March of the last year to work at Gimlet Media. Peretti told staffers Tuesday that the company is in the final interview stages for a new top editor and expects to name a successor in the coming weeks.

“Some extraordinary journalists lost their jobs today. You should hire them,” Polgreen tweeted on Tuesday. “This is a remarkable team that has been through a lot, and it breaks my heart to see them face the axe again.”

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Among the layoffs were journalists with long tenures at HuffPost, including senior reporter Emily Peck, senior reporter Emma Gray and senior reporter Melissa Jeltsen who all spent nearly a decade there. Peck reported on gender inequality and other business topics, Gray reported on the intersection of gender, culture and politics and Jeltsen reported on domestic violence.

If HuffPost reported facts… if they reported news that people actually wanted to read, perhaps they wouldn’t be in this situation.

But once again: Go woke, go broke.

That is clearly the case.

And we are seeing this situation repeat itself over and over again.

Here at WeLoveTrump, we are committed to the truth!