Digital media's pivot to nothingness

This week’s episode goes out to the journalists in your life. (Or you, if you happen to be a journalist). According to one estimate, nearly 130,000 workers in tech and media have lost their job over the 12 months — and while we’ve talked about the annual ritual of media layoffs before, it’s hard to avoid the feeling that we’re finally reaching the end of the era of digital media as we know it.

Is the current wave of layoffs and closures just more of the same, or a sign that writers and editors need to completely rethink what a career in media even looks like? How do digital publications actually make money — and what lessons can we learn, if any, from these suspiciously concurrent cuts in both tech and media? 

Lucky for you, we happen to have an old colleague in our Rolodex with an intimate understanding of the economics of the business (and how they got so broken). His name is Ben Dietz, and he’s the creator of an excellent culture and technology newsletter called [SIC] Weekly. Prior to his current gig as chief strategy officer at NTWRK, he spent 16 years working upstairs from us at VICE — leading sales and business development, founding an in-house agency called VIRTUE, and just generally being the kind of ad guy who seemed to genuinely care about the work we did as journalists. Drew joins to help ask questions… and then ask Ben for money.

Support our independent journalism by becoming a paid subscriber at theculturejournalist.substack.com. Paid subscribers receive a free bonus episode every month, along with full essays and culture recommendations.

Keep it weird with The Culture Journalist on Instagram.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theculturejournalist.substack.com/subscribe