stupid headline
The rise and (maybe) fall of BuzzFeed News - and larger dreams for digital journalism
When BuzzFeed decided in 2012 to branch out from the cat videos, viral listicles and "OMG!" headlines that had put it on the map for under-30 readers for a bold new venture into serious journalism, its critics were skeptical. "WTF, indeed," quipped Fast Company.
But less than a decade later, it had claimed its first Pulitzer Prize - for an investigative series that harnessed satellite imagery to demonstrate the extent of China's secretive program for detaining the Uyghur people in the northwestern Xinjiang region - and secured a reputation as one of the brightest lights of digital media.
Now, though, the ambitions that once fueled BuzzFeed News appear to have dulled, after the company announced Tuesday it would shed staff in the coverage areas - investigative reporting, politics, science, economic disparity and social justice - where it once competed with the giants of traditional journalism. Management has offered buyouts to 36 of the news division's roughly 100 journalists, which some fear could be a death blow for its long-term future. The union that represents many BuzzFeed News employees called the proposal an attempt to "gut our newsroom."
The company has not announced any layoffs, but that's a frequent next step at news organizations when too few employees opt for a buyout. In early 2019, the company laid off 215 employees, about 15% of its total staff, and 43 of them were journalists, many from its national news teams.
Long story, but it doesn’t include the BIG STORY in 2016 that they ‘broke’, which was Trump-Russia ‘Collusion’ and the Dossier.
...I wonder why?
“Chronical?”
Buzzfeed needs to double down on the fagginess of the organization. There just isn’t enough gayness in modern media......