LAist has accepted 21 buyouts and is eliminating seven additional positions, according to a statement Friday from a spokesperson.
The station offered the voluntary buyouts in May, with CCO Kristen Muller saying at the time the organization faced a budget shortfall over the next two years in the range of $4 million to $5 million.
“This is the result of a decline in advertising, the end of our investment reserves, slower-than-anticipated digital monetization, and overall cost increases that have not kept pace with revenue,” the spokesperson said.
LAist is far from the only public media station cutting jobs in the face of challenges. Current has tracked more than 400 jobs lost to buyouts and layoffs since March 2023. Multiple stations have cited revenue growth not keeping up with cost increases as a reason for their reductions.
The union representing LAist journalists, producers and hosts shared news of the layoffs Thursday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“As a steward at LAist, I’m incredibly disappointed to share that we’re losing valuable colleagues today,” said reporter Caitlin Hernández in a post on X.
Ariel Zirulnick, director of news experimentation, also posted on X that she was one of the people laid off after not taking a buyout. She said she declined the buyout because she was excited about things she was working on.
“I’m sad I won’t get to finish them, but I’m really proud of the work I did there and grateful for my colleagues and all I learned,” Zirulnick wrote.
The statement from LAist’s spokesperson did not address Current’s question about which departments or teams were affected by the job cuts.
The station is also reducing third-party costs and compensation for senior leaders and will renegotiate several contracts to reduce spending, the statement said. It did not specify how much those moves will save.
“Our ambition is to be as big and impactful as the name of the city we carry, and we are more excited than ever to reimagine public media for the digital age,” the statement said.