Introducing the Public Media Layoffs Tracker

A new tool from Semipublic shows how many public media jobs have been lost since the rescissions package passed Congress.

Public media is currently undergoing a profound transformation. With the end of federal funding, as well as the winding-down of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, stations are frantically reinventing not just their revenue models, but also themselves. And we won’t know what the result of this transformation will be, probably, for several years.

Much of these changes have been - and will be - accompanied by the loss of jobs. From a practical point of view, shedding administrative costs makes a lot of sense, especially in an industry where the floor for equipment costs can be quite high. If the mission of public media is to provide every community with a free and independent source of news and entertainment, after all, leaders should be considering every sort of cost-cutting measure to keep the lights on and the broadcast towers functional.

But from a human perspective, every job lost is another person entering a difficult and uncertain job market. So, to honor the human cost of public media’s transformation, I created the Semipublic Public Media Layoffs Tracker.

Updated daily, layoffs.semipublic.co shows every instance of a public media-related layoff, the number of jobs lost, and a link to the source of the information. Hovering over each day shows which events happened when (according to the news reports referenced) and how many jobs were cut. Not included in the tally are job cuts that have been announced but not enacted yet, like CPB’s wind-down or WPSU’s (reported) closure.

I recognize that there were many public media jobs cut in anticipation of the passage of the rescissions package; I chose July 18th because it is now a very significant milestone for public media. I’m hoping to incorporate jobs lost starting at the beginning of the calendar year in a future iteration.

One lesson I’ve learned since the start of Semipublic in April is how to balance complexity with simplicity: Sometimes, it’s useful to slice up public media reliance on state funding in nearly every way imaginable, and sometimes it’s better to give one simple takeaway, like which stations were hit hardest by the end of federal funding. Obviously, the conversation about layoffs in public media is much more complicated than one number can convey, but we also owe it to those affected to keep it in mind.

Check out the tracker at layoffs.semipublic.co and let me know what you think. Otherwise, Semipublic will be back soon with more analysis.

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Earlier this year, I set out on a journey to collect every public media station’s financial documentation. I wanted to answer the question of what would happen when public media lost its federal funding.

Since launching Semipublic in April, my work has been featured nationally and has inspired other journalists to generate their own data-driven insights about public media. It even laid the groundwork for Adopt A Station, a website I built in 24 hours that pairs visitors with an at-risk public media station.

Altogether, the work to gather, analyze, and publish the industry’s essential data has taken me hundreds of hours. Now, I’m asking for your help: If you value Semipublic’s mission, or have ever benefited from insights published in this newsletter, take the time to become a paid subscriber for $8 a month. Or, you can buy me a coffee.