US journalists have been proclaiming the 'death of democracy' in the age of Trump as Verizon - the congolomerate which owns HuffPost, Yahoo and AOL - announced it was cutting 7% of workforce over the weekend. In addition Buzzfeed reported it would cut 15% of its staff.
Emerging publishers and online voices outside of the mainstream, however, evinced what can only be described as schadenfreude. After being de-platformed on sites such as Youtube, Patreon and Paypal they argue that an ideological and partisan "mainstream media" (MSM) is getting exactly what is deserves.
Many journalists tweeted about the dismissal, sharing their portfolio's and looking around for freelance work.
The recent lay-off of brave HuffPo journalists is truly a threat to liberal democracy. pic.twitter.com/5lwkAKwrKt
— Lauren Chen (@RoamingMil) January 25, 2019
Normally the sight of anyone loosing their job, is enough to evoke empathy and offers of help. At the very least sympathy. It would seem that digital journalists at outlets such as Buzzfeed and HuffPost have successfully made themselves an exception to this rule.
Traditionally, the media in the West enjoyed an important position as the "4th Estate", acting as a check on the balance of the executive, a voice for the underprivileged, and a source of information outside of government interference. Over the past decade the rise of social media, increasing economic disparity, and the 2017 American election, have all conspired to increasingly damage the relationship between the American people and the American media.
While some percieve President Trumps attacks on the MSM as the "Enemy of the People" to be a worrying sign of approaching authoritarianism, others see a different trend: a more horizontal media ecocsystem in which big tech, big government and global corporations no longer control the narrative.
Dubbed 'controversial' or the very best 'contrarian' by their colleagues in legacy media, some of the internet's influencer-journalists remain confident about the future.
There is no doubt that for much of the Internet, the BuzzFeed and HuffPost layoffs were if not quite a moment for celebration, then definitely an opportunity to engage in some very salty behaviour.
What do you think? Death of journalism, or the beginning of the end for divisive click-bait?
