'Painful' layoffs announced as Vice Media cancels flagship show

In the latest round of layoffs to hit the faltering news industry, Vice Media has announced "painful" cuts, including the cancellation of its flagship news show.

On Thursday, the youth-oriented media company announced that it would be cancelling the nightly news programme "Vice News Tonight" as part of a company-wide restructure that will also lead to layoffs, Al Jazeera has reported.

"In response to the current market conditions and business realities facing VMG and the broader news and media industry, we are moving forward on some painful but necessary reductions, primarily across our News business," co-CEOs Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala said in a memo to employees.

Sources told CNN that hundreds of staff would be let go, however the figure was not confirmed.

BuzzFeed reported last week that it was closing its news division, and on Tuesday, Nate Silver, founder of FiveThirtyEight, revealed he planned to leave ABC News as a result of layoffs at Disney, the firm's parent company.

CNN, The Washington Post, NPR, Vox Media, and NBC News are just few other organisations that have reduced staff in recent months.

The layoffs reflect an industry-wide funding crisis that has raised existential questions about the future of journalism. Newsroom employment in the United States fell by more than one-quarter between 2008 and 2021 amid the collapse of the traditional print advertising model, according to the Pew Research Center, adds the report.

Vice, known for its brash, youth-focused content, was once hailed as one of the most promising names in digital media and at its peak was valued at nearly $6b.

But like other digital media startups, Vice has struggled to turn lofty expectations into a sustainable business model in the post-print advertising landscape dominated by Google and Meta.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Group Black had submitted a bid to buy Vice for about $400m.