新冠疫情期间惨遭裁员，美国媒体人艰难自救
美国两家大型线上刊物《赫芬顿邮报》（HuffPost）与Buzzfeed曾经宣布双方将于2月16日合并。3月9日，也就是合并不到一个月的时间，BuzzFeed的首席执行官乔纳·佩雷蒂向其雇员发出通知，47名《赫芬顿邮报》的美国雇员（共190名）将被解雇，而且《赫芬顿邮报》加拿大分社（HuffPost Canada）将彻底关闭。
裁员的消息让雇员们大吃一惊，据报道，3月9日上午雇员们受邀参加了一个在线视频会议，当时参会的登陆密码是“spr!ngisH3r3”（春天来了）。会议期间，他们得知自己要到下午1点之后才会收到是否会被解雇的电子邮件通知。
与此同时，按照在新冠疫情期间形成的惯例，其他记者同行则需要开始思考，采用何种方法为新失业同僚的借酒消愁买单。
即便是在新冠疫情肆虐、失业率暴增至前所未有的水平之前，新闻行业便已经进入严重的衰退阶段。不幸的是，经常性的大规模裁员已经成为了记者办公室生活中的家常便饭。美国新闻行业就业率在2008年至2019年期间下滑了23%，新闻报纸行业的就业跌幅尤为惨重，达到了约50%。
随着裁员变得越来越普遍，新失业记者开始宣布他们准备聚集的酒吧，而在其他刊物工作的朋友则会给其打电话，承担一部分酒钱，甚至给他们送一份比萨。这个流程被称为（也很像）一个非常喧闹的梦醒时分，而且在宣传项目记者中十分常见。
这一次，《赫芬顿邮报》的工会委员会成员诺拉·比特-提蒙斯在推特（Twitter）上创建了Venmo基金，并加以宣传。在下午三点左右，她已经收到了近一万美元的捐赠，而且制定了在当天下午适用于疫情环境的小酌计划，此举让人们感到纽约市格外明媚，像春天一样。她指出，这些钱将分为两部分：一部分将进入一个为新失业雇员设立的自我照顾基金，而另一部分并非只可以用于购买啤酒。这意味着每一位前任雇员都将收到相当一部分能够随意使用的资金，不过，基金鼓励他们用这笔资金为自己寻找快乐和关爱。
《赫芬顿邮报》工会的成员（其中有33名成员，占到近30%的比例，在3月9日失去了工作）还为如今正在寻找工作的记者整理了一份列有工作机会和合适联系人的清单，因为疫情期间的就业机会对记者来说异常难找。
2020年，媒体裁员的速度创历史新高，原因在于疫情导致众多刊物赖以生存的广告营收出现了下滑。
说到新闻行业所面临的困难，需要指责的东西太多了，例如：误导性新闻视频充斥的互联网和社交媒体、糟糕的商业决策，以及将刊物称为亿万富翁的宠物项目等等。然而，没有哪条有关媒体现状的新闻可以阻止推特上不断出现的声音：“我刚刚被公司裁了，正在寻找自由职业工作。”
3月9日，佩雷蒂告诉雇员，《赫芬顿邮报》去年亏损超过2000万美元，裁员旨在让公司回归“快速盈利轨道”。据称，佩雷蒂曾经对雇员说：“BuzzFeed的亏损额太大了，我们调整了公司策略以及规模。这是一个困难、痛苦的决定，但如今我们拥有了比以往任何时候都更强大的业务。我们希望《赫芬顿邮报》回归其实力巅峰，而且我们将运用我们所学以及所积累的一切来实现这一目标。”
从组织构架来讲，《郝芬顿邮报》工会是东部美国编剧协会（Writers Guild of America, East）的一部分，该工会反对佩雷蒂的决定。成员在一则声明中写道：“我们感到很受伤而且很愤怒，尤其是在经历了一年的疫情恢复以及居家办公之后，而且此时距离《赫芬顿邮报》被BuzzFeed收购仅有不到一个月的时间。我们从未获得过一个能够证明自身价值的公平机会。”
虽然丢了工作还可以再找，但丢失一份一直在引导日常生活、甚至在全球疫情期间（尽管还存在着深深的孤独、焦虑和经济阵痛）提供目标感的工作可能尤为令人难以接受。《赫芬顿邮报》的员工当前并没有应对这种沮丧情绪和失业压力的传统渠道。他们希望这些基金和联系清单可以在其失业后替代传统意义上同事以及亲人所能够提供的那种亲密无间的抚慰。（财富中文网）
译者：冯丰
审校：夏林
美国两家大型线上刊物《赫芬顿邮报》（HuffPost）与Buzzfeed曾经宣布双方将于2月16日合并。3月9日，也就是合并不到一个月的时间，BuzzFeed的首席执行官乔纳·佩雷蒂向其雇员发出通知，47名《赫芬顿邮报》的美国雇员（共190名）将被解雇，而且《赫芬顿邮报》加拿大分社（HuffPost Canada）将彻底关闭。
裁员的消息让雇员们大吃一惊，据报道，3月9日上午雇员们受邀参加了一个在线视频会议，当时参会的登陆密码是“spr!ngisH3r3”（春天来了）。会议期间，他们得知自己要到下午1点之后才会收到是否会被解雇的电子邮件通知。
与此同时，按照在新冠疫情期间形成的惯例，其他记者同行则需要开始思考，采用何种方法为新失业同僚的借酒消愁买单。
即便是在新冠疫情肆虐、失业率暴增至前所未有的水平之前，新闻行业便已经进入严重的衰退阶段。不幸的是，经常性的大规模裁员已经成为了记者办公室生活中的家常便饭。美国新闻行业就业率在2008年至2019年期间下滑了23%，新闻报纸行业的就业跌幅尤为惨重，达到了约50%。
随着裁员变得越来越普遍，新失业记者开始宣布他们准备聚集的酒吧，而在其他刊物工作的朋友则会给其打电话，承担一部分酒钱，甚至给他们送一份比萨。这个流程被称为（也很像）一个非常喧闹的梦醒时分，而且在宣传项目记者中十分常见。
这一次，《赫芬顿邮报》的工会委员会成员诺拉·比特-提蒙斯在推特（Twitter）上创建了Venmo基金，并加以宣传。在下午三点左右，她已经收到了近一万美元的捐赠，而且制定了在当天下午适用于疫情环境的小酌计划，此举让人们感到纽约市格外明媚，像春天一样。她指出，这些钱将分为两部分：一部分将进入一个为新失业雇员设立的自我照顾基金，而另一部分并非只可以用于购买啤酒。这意味着每一位前任雇员都将收到相当一部分能够随意使用的资金，不过，基金鼓励他们用这笔资金为自己寻找快乐和关爱。
《赫芬顿邮报》工会的成员（其中有33名成员，占到近30%的比例，在3月9日失去了工作）还为如今正在寻找工作的记者整理了一份列有工作机会和合适联系人的清单，因为疫情期间的就业机会对记者来说异常难找。
2020年，媒体裁员的速度创历史新高，原因在于疫情导致众多刊物赖以生存的广告营收出现了下滑。
说到新闻行业所面临的困难，需要指责的东西太多了，例如：误导性新闻视频充斥的互联网和社交媒体、糟糕的商业决策，以及将刊物称为亿万富翁的宠物项目等等。然而，没有哪条有关媒体现状的新闻可以阻止推特上不断出现的声音：“我刚刚被公司裁了，正在寻找自由职业工作。”
3月9日，佩雷蒂告诉雇员，《赫芬顿邮报》去年亏损超过2000万美元，裁员旨在让公司回归“快速盈利轨道”。据称，佩雷蒂曾经对雇员说：“BuzzFeed的亏损额太大了，我们调整了公司策略以及规模。这是一个困难、痛苦的决定，但如今我们拥有了比以往任何时候都更强大的业务。我们希望《赫芬顿邮报》回归其实力巅峰，而且我们将运用我们所学以及所积累的一切来实现这一目标。”
从组织构架来讲，《郝芬顿邮报》工会是东部美国编剧协会（Writers Guild of America, East）的一部分，该工会反对佩雷蒂的决定。成员在一则声明中写道：“我们感到很受伤而且很愤怒，尤其是在经历了一年的疫情恢复以及居家办公之后，而且此时距离《赫芬顿邮报》被BuzzFeed收购仅有不到一个月的时间。我们从未获得过一个能够证明自身价值的公平机会。”
虽然丢了工作还可以再找，但丢失一份一直在引导日常生活、甚至在全球疫情期间（尽管还存在着深深的孤独、焦虑和经济阵痛）提供目标感的工作可能尤为令人难以接受。《赫芬顿邮报》的员工当前并没有应对这种沮丧情绪和失业压力的传统渠道。他们希望这些基金和联系清单可以在其失业后替代传统意义上同事以及亲人所能够提供的那种亲密无间的抚慰。（财富中文网）
译者：冯丰
审校：夏林
HuffPost and Buzzfeed, two large online publications, announced they would be merging on Feb. 16. On March 9, less than one month later, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti notified staff that 47 of the 190 U.S. HuffPost employees would be laid off, and HuffPost Canada would be shut down entirely.
The layoffs came as a surprise to employees, who were reportedly invited to an online video meeting on March 9 morning where the password "spr!ngisH3r3" (spring is here) was required for entry. During the meeting, they were told that they would have to wait until 1 p.m. to see if they received an email informing them of their termination.
In the meantime, fellow journalists got to work honoring what has become a now common tradition, updated for the pandemic: They began devising ways to pay for the drinks of their newly unemployed comrades.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic ripped through the United States and caused unprecedented unemployment levels, newsrooms were in a severe state of decline. Regular, massive layoffs have, unfortunately, become as routine as burnt coffee in the office life of a journalist. Newsroom employment in the U.S. dropped by 23% between 2008 and 2019, and employment at newspapers in particular dropped by about half.
As layoffs became increasingly commonplace, newly unemployed journalists began announcing the drinking holes they would be congregating in, and friends at other publications would call up and pay down their tabs or even send pizza. The process has been referred to, and is not unlike, a very boisterous wake and is also a common practice among campaign staffers.
This time around, a Venmo fund was created and promoted on Twitter by Nora Biette-Timmons, a HuffPost union committee member. By the mid-afternoon, she had already received donations into the high four-digits, and plans had been made for pandemic-appropriate drinks in the afternoon—it helps that New York City was feeling particularly sunny and springlike. The money, she noted, would be divided up into a self-care fund for the newly unemployed and wasn’t just intended to be used to purchase beer. That means former employees will receive a fair share of the money and will be free to use it on whatever they want, though they're encouraged to use it on something that makes them feel happy and cared for.
Members of the HuffPost union (of which 33 members, nearly 30%, were let go March 9), also worked to create a spreadsheet with job opportunities and appropriate contacts for journalists now looking for work during a pandemic that has been particularly harsh on journalists.
In 2020, media layoffs paced at record highs, as the pandemic led to a loss in the advertising revenue that many publications rely on.
When it comes to the woes facing the news industry, there’s plenty of finger pointing to be done: the Internet, the social media conglomerates dictating misguided pivots to video, bad business decisions, the reframing of publications as billionaire pet projects, and so on. But no number of think pieces about the state of the media has stopped the steady Twitter stream of “I was just laid off, and I’m looking for freelance work” announcements.
On March 9, Peretti told employees that the cuts were meant to “fast-track the path to profitability” for HuffPost after its losses exceeded $20 million last year. "When BuzzFeed was losing too much money, we adjusted our strategy and our size," Peretti reportedly told employees. "It was difficult, painful work, but now we have a stronger business than ever before. We want HuffPost to be in the same position of strength, and we will apply all that we’ve learned and built to get there."
The HuffPost Union, organized as part of the Writers Guild of America, East, slammed Peretti’s decision. “We are devastated and infuriated, particularly after an exhausting year of covering a pandemic and working from home. This is also happening less than a month after HuffPost was acquired by BuzzFeed. We never got a fair shot to prove our worth,” members wrote in a statement.
Losing a job is never easy, but losing a job that has been guiding daily routines and perhaps even providing a sense of purpose in the midst of a global pandemic—while loneliness, anxiety, and economic pain run deep—can be particularly devastating. And traditional outlets for coping with the emotional distress and stress of losing a job aren't currently available to HuffPost staffers. They're hoping that these funds and spreadsheets can stand in for the traditional close-bodied commiseration with coworkers and loved ones after a layoff.
