NewsGuild President Says Pandemic Created ‘Extinction-Level Event’ in Journalism (Exclusive)

NewsGuild president Jon Schleuss calls it an “extinction-level event.” Many of the affected newsrooms are members of the Guild, which started a campaign, Save The News, to raise awareness of the depth of the crisis and urging Congress to pass legislation that will enable the industry to survive it.

“Since the pandemic arrived on our shores, more than 50 news outlets have closed. Roughly 36,000 journalists had lost their jobs, faced furloughs, or had their hours cut due to the crisis as of early May, and that number continues to grow,” he told TheWrap, pointing out that — as TheWrap has been reporting — the pandemic only compounded the existing financial crises in local journalism.

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