Layoffs in 2025 are not limited to the tech sector. Numerous well-known media and entertainment organizations have let off employees in recent weeks.
The Walt Disney Company is the most recent media behemoth to apparently experience layoffs. What you need to know about the current layoffs in the media sector is provided here.
Disney Entertainment Networks and ABC News lay off employees.
A Wall Street Journal story claims that the Walt Disney Company is preparing to lay off roughly 6% of its workforce, which includes workers in the ABC News Group and Disney Entertainment Networks divisions.
About 200 workers will be let go as part of the layoffs, which are expected to be revealed today. The goal of the change is to reduce expenses in areas that were once more profitable but are now viewed as less significant because to the continuous transition to streaming.
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According to reports, ABC will combine 20/20 and Nightline into a single organization as part of the transition, which will lead to job losses. The news site 538, which presently employs roughly 15 people, is also apparently being shut down by the news network.
According to WSJ, Disney Entertainment Networks would lay off employees in its scheduling and program planning divisions.
Tegna and E.W. Scripps fire workers
According to TheWrap, American broadcaster E.W. Scripps plans to fire employees from all of its local TV stations. According to reports, workers at the corporation, which now operates 61 stations nationwide, started receiving notice of the layoffs yesterday.
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Although the precise number of people that E.W. Scripps will be letting go is unknown, the company is estimated to have 5,200 employees.
When contacted for response, an E.W. Scripps representative told Fast Company, “We can confirm there were some position eliminations across about a dozen Scripps stations.” “These changes are part of Scripps’ ongoing commitment to adapt through this disruption and ensure we can continue providing our communities with essential services well into the future, even though they are challenging.” “The media industry is in a state of ongoing disruption.”
The alleged layoffs at E.W. Scripps follow the layoffs of its VERIFY fact-checking team at Tegna Inc., another American broadcasting business that owns a number of NBC-affiliated stations. About 20 journalists and producers made up Tegna’s fact-checking crew, according to AdWeek.
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Jobs in the media sector are not limited to broadcasting. In recent years, there have also been job losses at major print media companies.
Emma Tucker, the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, informed staff members via TalkingBizNews on Tuesday that the publication will be establishing a new Technology & Media division in New York to manage its technology coverage. But according to Tucker, “some reporters and editors in San Francisco and New York will be leaving us due to the changes.” Tucker did not specify the number of jobs that would be eliminated.
There will be some journalists leaving the Los Angeles Times as well, but not because of layoffs. Over 40 journalistic employees have received buyout offers from Patrick Soon-Shiong, the newspaper’s owner, according to TheWrap. The buyout offer coincides with recent turbulence at the paper, such as the cancellation of Kamala Harris’s scheduled endorsement late last year.
The good news is that January employment losses were smaller than they were a year ago.
Data from the consulting company Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows that 624 positions were lost in January in the media sector, which includes news, streaming, film, and television. Compared to the 490 jobs the industry lost in December 2024, that represented a 27% increase.
However, compared to the 836 media positions lost in January 2024, the 624 media jobs lost in January 2025 represented a 41% decrease.
In terms of the news sector alone, which encompasses print, broadcast, and digital media, Challenger, Gray & Christmas reports that 192 layoffs took place in January 2025, a 64% decrease from the 528 reductions in January 2024.
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