Maybe Biden’s presidency hasn’t been a total failure after all
There’s a lot of bad news in the world these days, which is to be expected under a Joe Biden presidency. To avoid being overwhelmed by a sense of hopelessness, it’s important that we take time to celebrate the good news whenever it comes.
In recent days a number of media outlets have announced layoffs, which means the population of journalists is getting smaller. That’s great news for the vast majority of Americans who consider journalists to be obnoxious, dishonest, and unethical. Of course, it’s not always appropriate to rejoice when people lose their jobs, but in this case it’s fine because the fired journalists can easily learn to code and get better, more respectable jobs in the real world.
Let’s take a look at some of the latest developments in journalist population control:
• The Los Angeles Times fired more than 20 percent of its newsroom staff via webinar this week as part of billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong’s efforts to stop losing tens of million of dollars each year. The paper’s union complained that roughly one-third of the members of its various racial caucuses were losing their jobs.
• Sports Illustrated, a once-thriving publication, was “thrown into chaos” last week when its publisher announced that many (if not all) of the magazine’s staff of roughly 100 journalists would soon be let go.
• Condé Nast executive and Democratic megadonor Anna Wintour reportedly wore sunglasses last week while informing journalists at the music site Pitchfork that they were losing their jobs. About half the Pitchfork staff are believed to have been let go following the decision to merge the site with the men’s magazine GQ.
• National Geographic fired even more journalists this week less than a year after getting rid of its last remaining staff writers.
• Time magazine laid off more than a dozen journalists on Tuesday, a decision that CEO Jess Sibley described as a “step we must take in order to drive our business forward.”
• Business Insider is cutting about 8 percent of its staff, CEO Barbara Peng announced in an email on Thursday. The company has graciously decided to offer a severance package that includes “training on networking.”
• Mehdi Hasan, the MSNBC host best known for hating Israel, quit his job earlier this month after the left-wing network canceled his show.
Many argue that Joe Biden’s presidency has been a total failure. These developments suggest that is not entirely true. Combating the overpopulation of journalists might be the only issue on which Biden has succeeded where Donald Trump failed—Trump was the best thing that ever happened to them—but it still counts as a success. Please celebrate responsibly.
