The first few months of 2025 have been brutal for journalism, with layoffs announced by CNN, Vox Media, HuffPost and NBC, and likely more on the horizon. The pace of these announcements rivals the carnage of last winter, when at least 15 news organizations announced mass layoffs. It’s heartbreaking to see hundreds of journalists join the nearly 10,000 who have been laid off in the last three years — that’s more than 1 in 10 editors and reporters employed in our industry, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
After surveying hundreds of laid-off journalists in my role as founder of the Institute for Independent Journalists, which serves freelancers of color, I can tell you what many of these individuals are experiencing: a sudden financial crisis, depression and self-doubt, isolation, and a loss of identity. Because many of us see journalism as a calling, when we lose a job, it hits deeper than just the loss of a livelihood. When I was laid off from my job as national correspondent for Newhouse News Service, along with two dozen colleagues when our bureau closed, it took me six months to get used to the new reality — working for myself as an independent journalist, with no institution backing me up.
Unfortunately, the news business continues to decline with no signs of abating. Some corporate owners seem to have adopted the strategy of laying off experienced workers to save a few bucks, then immediately seeking to replace them with cheaper, newer employees or contractors. Take Dot Dash Meredith, which announced layoffs in January, while simultaneously seeking to hire over a dozen editorial staffers through an agency.
For those of us working in this dystopian environment, layoffs are the new normal. So it pays to understand the immediate, medium- and long-term steps to take after a layoff. From the IIJ’s reporting in support of laid-off journalists, here’s a to-do list that will prepare you for a possible layoff — and help you bounce back quickly.
Stay ready
1) Every working journalist should regularly be backing up their portfolio of work on a computer or cloud storage program that they own or control, so that documentation of a long-standing career in journalism doesn’t evaporate with the arrival of a pink slip. Learn from the losses experienced by employees of Gawker, The Messenger, and other outlets who saw years or even decades of their work disappear overnight — leaving them with no clips or reels to show in their job search.
2) The same goes for names and numbers of your professional contacts and current colleagues; don’t let the only copy of these contacts exist solely on a company-owned phone or computer.
3) Be sure to check your employment contract or any nondisclosure/noncompete agreements you signed to understand what work product or documents you’re allowed to take with you, and what is legally the company’s property. Your employer’s property could include work processes, budgets, and performance data, such as traffic or viewership statistics. While you can’t take proprietary newsroom information with you, nobody can extract from your brain the relationships you’ve built or the knowledge and expertise you’ve accumulated.
4) Take notes on your professional accomplishments as they occur, in a “win” folder on your personal computer or with an old-fashioned pen and paper.
5) Make sure your colleagues have your personal email address and phone number in case a layoff happens suddenly, and be sure to connect with everyone on LinkedIn.
Know your rights
Once the axe falls, you’re likely reeling and in a vulnerable position — especially if you’re facing a human resources rep asking you to sign something.
1) Don’t make hasty decisions and don’t sign documents without fully understanding the ramifications. Under a 2023 government ruling, employers cannot force you to waive your labor rights as a condition of receiving severance. If you’re over 40, you have at least 21 days to review a severance package, and even after signing a severance agreement, you can change your mind within one week.
2) Don’t assume your workplace is following the law in how it conducts the layoff — and advocate for yourself. Most employers must give 60 days advance notice of mass layoffs, under the WARN Act. If you’re in a unionized shop, consult your union representative for support and advice. If not, consider hiring an attorney to look over any documents — it’s worth a few hours’ consultation fee if it saves you thousands of dollars.
3) Wring every dollar possible from your employer. Prioritize your health and health care while you’re still employed; don’t put off routine doctor’s visits or eye exams. Remember to get reimbursements from any health savings account you may have.
4) Don’t be afraid to ask for an extension or different terms — everything is subject to negotiation. In a layoff, your employer will likely set deadlines and want to wrap up quickly. Make sure to carefully review your severance package and understand all the provisions, whether related to the amount of compensation, schedule of payments, benefits continuation or any non-compete provisions. Ask a friend, family member or attorney to help if you’re confused. Preserve your ability to make money while moving on.
Prioritize your next steps
Once a layoff happens, the number of tasks you should or could undertake may feel overwhelming. Follow Maslow’s hierarchy, which prioritizes needs in order from physiological to safety, love and belonging, self-esteem and finally self-actualization. You must eat, sleep, hydrate first, and pay your bills next.
1) I would recommend first establishing a health insurance and care plan; and filing for unemployment, if eligible, as soon as possible to start a new flow of income.
2) Review your monthly expenses ruthlessly to see what you can trim or negotiate — your subscriptions, cell phone and other regular bills can often be whittled down if you call and threaten to cancel. Consider whether to move in with friends or family in order to slash expenses dramatically.
3) Network. There will be time for you to get back in touch with former colleagues and classmates as you start networking toward your next steps. You can make a list now, but set reasonable targets for how many people to reach out to each week. Find community with other journalists and laid-off colleagues, who can truly understand what you’re going through. If you’re not a member of a professional association like the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Society of Environmental Journalists or the IIJ, this is a great time to join one or two that align with your identity, beat, or interests.
Establish healthy routines
When you’re not tied to the work schedule, you can easily become unmoored.
1) Set regular wake and sleep times, exercise and move your body, nourish your body with healthy food, and find ways to support your mental health. That could be establishing or increasing therapy, finding an accountability buddy or friend for regular check-ins, a meditation or mindfulness practice, or allowing yourself to rest. Breathe. You got this. You’ll need to launch a job hunt from a place of positivity, so tending to yourself is actually part of that process.
2) Find support outside journalism. We’re in a bit of a fishbowl in the media industry, where it can seem the ground is crumbling under us and everybody is at risk of layoffs. Reach out to your friends and family outside the profession for support — non-journalists often have a more balanced perspective. Don’t let “journalist” be your only identity. Engage in your hobbies and activities that help develop other sides of yourself.
When I was first laid off, I cast a wide net for freelance clients. In addition to news organizations, I ended up working on assignments for nonprofits and small businesses who cherished the writing, editing, analysis, and synthesis skills that we take for granted. I’d turn in an assignment that seemed humdrum and they’d acclaim my clean copy and quick turnaround. Sometimes, that positive feedback can be what you need to get through the slog of a journalism job hunt.
Additional resources:
The IIJ’s layoffs webinar
Post-layoff checklist and steps to launch a job search, from the News Revenue Hub
A Feb. 3 webinar on navigating layoffs, by Renee Washington, a former NBC news director
Yowei Shaw’s podcast series on the toll of layoffs
Motherboard’s Guide to Getting Laid Off
