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SubscribeOnly 35% of journalists in a Business Wire survey said there is job security in the news industry for the next five years. While not laying out the parameters of the survey, the sentiment is pervasive. Only recently BuzzFeed axed 70 HuffPost staffers, while Sinclair is cutting hundreds and news just broke of Meredith Corp. magazine layoffs. If you’re one of those journos, there are moves to make. CJR also has job listing sources at the end of this industry review.

The layoff pileup is something we’re watching in tandem with Sen. Amy Klobuchar‘s (DFL-MN) bill on collective bargaining for publishers. Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith told Congress he supports action. After another “tongue lashing” yesterday of Big Tech CEOs, change may finally be on the table. It’s worth noting Google is doing something to help offset local journalism’s decline.

|Read: Local News Initiatives Gain Steam|

Too bad saving jobs can’t be retroactive.

More news of note:

  • President Biden’s nomination of Lina Khan to the Federal Trade Commission may signal his intention to take on Big Tech.
  • Facebook agreed to pay for content from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. in Australia.
    • It could be a test case for U.S. regulation.
    • Aussies are also leading the way with local journalism initiative Newsfarm.
  • Kevin Meyer gives an unfiltered interview on his Disney departure after the government tried to force a TikTok sale.
  • The actionable scoop award goes to Reuters for reporting the SEC’s possible intention to regulate SPACs.
  • Dominion Voting Systems adds Fox News to its lawsuit list regarding the 2020 presidential election.

Selected political Movers & Shakers:

  • It’s official at CNBC: Eamon Javers becomes senior Washington correspondent, while Kayla Tausche takes over as senior White House correspondent, and Ylan Mui becomes senior congressional correspondent.
  • Aida Chavez just started as a Washington correspondent at The Nation. She wants to be added to your press lists (info in profile).
  • Brakkton Booker is headed to Politico as a national political correspondent.
  • CNN Washington Chief Domestic Correspondent Jim Acosta will start anchoring weekends in April. And Brianna Keilar is moving to New Day.
  • Matt Fuller is now a politics editor at The Daily Beast.
  • Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez will cover money and politics at Fortune.
  • National Security Reporter Vivian Salama has left CNN, returning to The Wall Street Journal. She’s off to a fast start.

While this intelligence briefing slants to politics, it’s relevant to bookend it with M&A, which can lead to the very thing Washington is trying to combat. A major buy this week was News Corp.’s acquisition of Investor’s Business Daily for $275 million. This story cites a Guggenheim Securities report stating the purchase has “significant opportunity for revenue synergies.”

There’s another undercurrent in news media that could make these acquisitions less valuable and perhaps accelerate the reduction of smaller players. Unless you’re buying a platform like Microsoft may be trying to with Discord, there’s a real risk of talent having a viable monetary option. This tough take is insightful, but how big is the market for individual newsletters?

Yglesias+ expands on the Substack deal, and is even doing flash sales.

The smaller revenue players may find themselves being consolidated at a faster pace given that factor as a possible influence. You can see that with the recent acquisition of Charlotte Agenda buy Axios, which is also rumored to be eyeing The Athletic.

Baz Hiralal

Managing Editor, Thought Leadership