Connect with us

U.S. News

“Vice News Tonight” Canceled As Media Downturn Accelerates

Published

on

Mario Tama/Getty Images

The downfall of Vice Media Group (VMG) is a perfect example of the challenges media organizations face that shift focuses towards ultra-left-wing ideologies. Despite being worth billions of dollars just several years ago, the company has followed a similar fate as Buzzfeed, now undergoing broad restructuring.

In 2017, Vice Media secured a funding round at $5.7 billion. One of its founders joked about “hockey stick” growth and a “sexy” IPO debut. But that never happened, and fast forward to today, top executives told employees in a memo that the popular TV program “Vice News Tonight” will be canceled, as well as a number of employees will be fired. 

“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 told employees. They didn’t specify how many job cuts. 

Dixon and Lokhandwala emphasized, “We are NOT exiting the news business, but we are changing the shape of VICE News to position the whole Company for long-term opportunities and improve how we deliver important, ground-breaking journalism well into the future.” 

A person familiar with the upcoming layoffs told CNN that the digital media company plans “dozens” of cuts to reduce operational costs. 

VMG joins a slew of other media companies that have had no other option but to restructure in recent months due to mounting macroeconomic headwinds and a weak advertising market. Also, many of these firms went ‘woke’ and are quickly going broke. 

Last week, BuzzFeed’s CEO Jonah Peretti told employees about restructuring plans that called for a reduction of headcount and the cancellation of BuzzFeed News. 

VMG and BuzzFeed are some of the best examples of how to destroy billions of dollars in valuations through woke and rubbish content. 

But it’s not just VMG and BuzzFeed hemorrhaging workers. HuffPost’s senior editor Philip Lewis highlighted a list of other media organizations undergoing restructuring efforts. 

*     *     * 

Read VMG’s Dixon and Lokhandwala’s memo in full below:

Team, 

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. We are transforming VICE News to better withstand market realities and more closely align with how and where we see our audiences engaging with our content most. To be incredibly clear, VICE News is core to VICE Media Group and fundamental to our business. We are NOT exiting the news business, but we are changing the shape of VICE News to position the whole company for long-term opportunities and improve how we deliver important, ground-breaking journalism well into the future.

As part of this process, we’ve decided to streamline VICE News and make reductions in roles across our global News team to focus on our growing digital video business and our News documentary and series production business for VTV and distribution partners worldwide. We’re also discontinuing VICE News Tonight on VICE TV (the last VNT broadcast will be in May). It’s clear that we need to accelerate VICE News’ transition to the platforms where its biggest audiences are — on our owned and operated channels where we have a direct relationship with our audience, on Paramount+ with Showtime, FAST Channels, YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, and via documentary programming for streaming platforms such as Netflix, HBO Max and Tubi. We believe this strategic focus strongly positions VICE’s incredibly important news coverage for the future.

Going forward, VICE News will be produced by our News Productions and Publishing divisions jointly under Subrata De, EVP, News, and Global Head of Programming and Development, and Cory Haik, COO for News and Entertainment — two of the most talented media executives in our industry. Our longform documentary and premium series work will be produced out of our News Productions division under Subrata, who will continue to oversee global news production for all linear and streaming platforms, including VICE TV. Our daily global VICE News journalism will be produced out of our Publishing division, under Cory, with VICE News and Motherboard now organized alongside our other digital brands: VICE, Refinery29, Unbothered and i-D, delivering our digital content across platforms and our VMG network. We will also be unifying all of our news content under VICE News, which will now be our single overarching global News brand. The teams will continue to work closely together, in a coordinated and collaborative manner focused on the shared vision for VICE News’ important role in global news coverage. 

Our global Human Resources team will begin notifying employees whose jobs are directly impacted by these changes. If you have questions, you should reach out to your manager and HRBP. 

We hope you understand that these changes were not made lightly, and that it is extremely painful to see our colleagues leave. VICE News began as a small team committed to shining a light on news in corners of the world that were being ignored by the mainstream press. Our team is part of our family and an important part of what built the VICE News brand into what it is today, but as the media industry continues to rapidly evolve and our audience consumes content in new ways, this transformation is a necessary step to safeguard the journalism for which VICE has always excelled and the future of VMG. 

Thank you, 

Bruce & Hozefa

*     *     * 

Readers will appreciate this… 

This post was originally published at Zero Hedge

U.S. News

Washington Post Rubbishes Its Own Poll Showing Trump Has Close To 10 Point Lead Over Biden

“This survey…is probably an outlier”

Published

on

Steve Watson

JIM WATSON,BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

The Washington Post has dismissed its own poll after it found that President Trump has a commanding approval lead over Joe Biden among voters.

The poll, conducted in conjunction with ABC News found that Trump has a 51% to 42% lead in a hypothetical 2024 general election matchup.

ABC News reported that support for Trump over Biden is up three percent since February, while Biden is down by two points. 

However, The Post disavowed the poll, noting “The Post-ABC poll shows Biden trailing Trump by 10 percentage points at this early stage in the election cycle, although the sizable margin of Trump’s lead in this survey is significantly at odds with other public polls that show the general election contest a virtual dead heat.”

“The difference between this poll and others, as well as the unusual makeup of Trump’s and Biden’s coalitions in this survey, suggest it is probably an outlier,” the outlet also claimed.

The poll also found that Trump is beating Biden by a massive 20 points among young voters:

ABC News reported that the numbers registered in the poll are “simply staggering”:

Meanwhile, a similar NBC News poll has recorded a record high disapproval rating for Biden:

SUBSCRIBE on YouTube:

Follow on Twitter:

———————————————————————————————————————
Brand new merch now available! Get it at https://www.pjwshop.com/ PJW Shop

ALERT! In the age of mass Silicon Valley censorship It is crucial that we stay in touch.

We need you to sign up for our free newsletter here.

Support my sponsor – Summit Vitamins – super charge your health and well being.

Also, we urgently need your financial support here. ———————————————————————————————————————

  • Continue Reading

    U.S. News

    Democratic Mayor Of Dallas: “American Cities Need Republicans… & I’m Becoming One”

    Published

    on

    Zero Hedge

    Omar Vega/Getty Images

    While the Democratic Mayor of Dallas says the city has thrived, Eric Johnson writes in a very frank WSJ op-ed that, elsewhere, Democratic policies have exacerbated crime and homelessness.

    “The future of America’s great urban centers depends on the willingness of the nation’s mayors to champion law and order and practice fiscal conservatism.

    Our cities desperately need the genuine commitment to these principles (as opposed to the inconsistent, poll-driven commitment of many Democrats) that has long been a defining characteristic of the GOP.”

    As we have written in detail previously, cities governed by Democrat mayors have seen the largest increases in homicide rates over the past year as well as registered the highest homicide rate per capita in Q1 out of 45 cities, according to a new report.

    Homicide rates in 45 of the most populated American cities rose by approximately 10 percent on average between Q1, 2021 and Q1, 2023, and continue to rise, according to an April 26 report by WalletHub. Blue cities were found to have a higher increase in homicide rates compared to red cities. The report designated a city as red or blue based on the mayor’s political affiliation.

    The top five cities that saw the greatest increase in per capita homicide are Richmond, Virginia; Memphis, Tennessee; Durham, North Carolina; Garland, Texas; and Washington, D.C.

    Except for Garland, where Mayor Scott LeMay is a Republican, the remaining four cities have mayors who are affiliated with the Democratic Party.

    The highest homicide rate per capita in the first quarter of 2023 was in Memphis at 14.19 per 100,000 residents. New Orleans, Louisiana, came in second at 12.76, followed by Baltimore, Maryland, with 10.47, St. Louis, Missouri, with 9.91, and Detroit, Michigan, with 8.52.

    Excluding St. Louis, the other four cities have mayors affiliated with the Democratic Party. The mayor of St. Louis, Tishaura Jones, was a former Democrat member of the Missouri House of Representatives.

    “In other words,” the Dallas Mayor adds:

    “American cities need Republicans – and Republicans need American cities.”

    And that’s exactly what he does – changing his party affiliation to ‘Republican’, ready to leave office in 2027 as a Republican.

    He is able to lift the ‘mask’ and see the problem that troubles so many of America’s cities.

    “Unfortunately, many of our cities are in disarray… Most of these local leaders are proud Democrats who view cities as laboratories for liberalism rather than as havens for opportunity and free enterprise.”

    Again, he nails it, daring to suggest the unmentionables that we have previously reported, Gregg W. Etter, a professor at the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Missouri, blamed the tendency of politicians to seek “simplistic, one-size-fits-all solutions to complex problems” as a reason behind the spike in homicides across the nation.

    Politicians offer such solutions to gain favor with political interest groups during elections, he pointed out. For instance, when faced with the issue of police using force in isolated instances, such politicians might support defunding the police rather than dealing with problematic officers.

    This ends up resulting in a less-effective police force, higher response times, lower morale among officers, and an “increasing unwillingness” to engage in proactive policing, he said.

    This has left many police forces in a strictly reactive mode, only responding to crimes that have already occurred. In addition, no-cash bail rulings have put many dangerous criminals back onto the streets even though they are arrested several times for violent crimes,” Etter said.

    “In cities where these two things are happening, the crime rate has spiked. You have less police officers and more dangerous criminals at large.”

    Too often, local tax dollars are spent on policies that exacerbate homelessness, coddle criminals and make it harder for ordinary people to make a living,” writes Johnson.

    And too many local Democrats insist on virtue signaling – proposing half-baked government programs that aim to solve every single societal ill  – and on finding new ways to thumb their noses at Republicans at the state or federal level. Enough. This makes for good headlines, but not for safer, stronger, more vibrant cities.”

    He concludes, with a strong suggestion at the ballot box

    “…the overwhelming majority of Americans who call our cities home deserve to have real choices—not “progressive” echo chambers—at city hall.”

    We can only imagine the anger raging among the leftists as this one man steps up and unleashes the terrible truth about liberal-run urbania. You’re not supposed to say any of that in your out-loud voice.

    Is it time for change?

    Read the full letter here…

    This post was originally published by Zero Hedge

    Continue Reading

    U.S. News

    Seattle Reverses Course, Makes Public Drug Use Arrestable Crime

    Published

    on

    Zero Hedge

    Screenshot

    The Seattle City Council on Tuesday ruled that public drug use will soon be illegal in the city.

    Imagine that!

    According to KIRO7, public drug use can now end in arrest – though there remains a large effort to funnel drug users into treatment programs.

    CB 120645 adds the crimes of using a controlled substance in public space and knowing possession of a controlled substance to the statute’s list of crimes. The move follows a Sept. 12 proposed ordinance passed by the Seattle City Council’s Public Safety and Human Services Committee by a vote of 4-1.

    Residents were sharply divided over the plan.

    “There is no budget to support this and there is no plan, no care, compassion or commitment to do anything other than imprison our most vulnerable citizens,” said one woman during the public comment section during a committee meeting.

    Others were for it.

    “Restoring a safe and welcoming environment downtown will bring back residents, workers and visitors, increase the momentum needed to get downtown on a sustained path to recovery,” said one man.

    The dissenting councilmember, Teresa Mosqueda, said the ordinance lacked attention to diversion efforts.

    “I want people to get access to public health services just as much as the people who testified in support of this legislation say they want. But that is not what this legislation does. And without the funding that is purported to come with this bill, we have no assurances that there will be alternative structures and programs and diversion strategies to prevent people from going to jail. We do not have to pass this legislation,” she said.

    This post was originally published at Zero Hedge

    Continue Reading

    Trending