Media layoffs continue as CNN cuts down workforce in Atlanta, London

According to a report in The Guardian, CNN will be making cuts to its television news operation in London. The decision was announced by CNN president Jeff Zucker at a meeting in the company’s London office on May 28. According to the report, Zucker told those present that the international channel was losing $10m (£8m) a year.

The layoffs will result in about a dozen employees losing their jobs.

Last week, the network showed the door to employees based out of its Atlanta bureau in the United States. The layoffs target those who cover health care at the bureau. This came a few weeks after CNN called mass layoffs a “crazy rumour”.

Regarding the layoffs in Atlanta, CNN vice president Allison Gollust told Fox News: “‎We have nearly 4,000 people at CNN … and around 100 of them exercised the option for a programme that was offered. That’s it. Those are the facts.”

Starting January 2019, American outlets like Buzzfeed, Huffington Post, Yahoo, AOL and Vice, among others, have handed pink slips to their employees to account for audience attrition.

Media layoffs in the US have come to represent a seismic shift in the media paradigm as digital-media companies have been forced to cut down their workforce. These companies had once occupied the space vacated by fading newspaper brands in the US.