Bloomberg News fires about 90 staff members in the editorial and research departments after management concluded that editors ‘move too slowly’ over stories. According to one source familiar with the company’s plan to ‘reorganize’, according to editor – in – chief John Micklethwait, the cuts are affecting less than 3% of staff in the departments.
In an email received by TheWrap, Micklethwait praised Bloomberg journalists for adjusting to work from home amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Then he tells why leaders decided to ‘reorganize’.
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“However, we all know that we also ‘lost’ stories because we moved too slowly. Teams waited for someone to read a piece back, or ignored the News Desk’s requests to blow fast. Managers spent too much time setting up conference calls if they only had to write. Or teams suddenly delivered pieces of business that no one wanted, ”he wrote. “Covid emphasized these strengths and weaknesses. But in reality, it has been clear for some time. We need to have more ownership and accountability. ”
According to him, the new structure gives preference to editing and accountability and does away with re-reading and re-editing.
Agility is important. Yes, editors can have areas of specialization and of course we have to make use of the expertise, but that does not mean that they have to edit stories in that field alone. Editors will want to work on different stories to make their own work more interesting and still challenge themselves. The attitude needs to change from ‘not my patch’ to ‘all hands on deck’, with more editors picking up and finishing stories, ‘he said.
Micklethwait’s email did not specify when the dismissals would take place, but wrote: “I’m not going to pretend that today is a happy day for the newsroom.
Bloomberg did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.