National Public Radio announced Wednesday that they were cutting their workforce by 7 percent. This in an effort to made their budget, which was projected in July to create a $2 million deficit but, after the steep downturn in the economy, was projected to reach $23 million.
Day to Day and News & Notes will both be cancelled, and other jobs will be eliminated throughout the organization.—-
In an NPR press release, NPR's Senior Vice President for News Ellen Weiss was quoted as saying “It’s crucial to realize that these programming changes are being driven by a loss in revenue, not relevance. With near-record audience levels, now more than ever people are relying on NPR to better understand the extraordinary events occurring in the world.”
According to the press release, 26.4 million people listen to programs each week and 8 million people visiting NPR.org each month.
The economy continues to produces casualties in the journalism industry, but we can agree that the economy will eventually correct itself. Our media outlets need to realize that if they keep cutting jobs and in turn the quality of their products, when the money does come back, their audience will have left for good.
If a pastry shop starts losing business due to economic hardship and makes up for it by using ground cardboard instead of flour, everyone will stop coming. And after the economy comes back, no one will return.
Read more about the NPR job cuts from the prospective of unemployed radio hosts here.
