Marketplace cuts seven positions, invests in digital expansion
APM’s Marketplace is eliminating seven positions in a restructuring that aims to support its digital transformation.
An op-ed by GM Neal Scarbrough, shared on LinkedIn and with Current, announced job cuts along with the creation of new roles at Marketplace. He did not specify which jobs would be cut or describe the new positions beyond listing an investment in “content, with several new roles and workflows.”
Many of the role changes will begin May 5, according to a spokesperson for Marketplace. More details will be shared in the coming months.
The Los Angeles–based public media team will also move from its downtown headquarters to share space with LAist in Pasadena.
In his commentary, Scarbrough described how the public media business model is “under siege on multiple fronts,” including declines in broadcast reach and underwriting sales, shifting media consumption and “waning” state and federal funding.
“Our path forward will require many things, but chief among them: We must be nimble enough to create better outcomes for our audience, for our partners and for all communities,” he wrote.
Beyond staff changes, Marketplace has already invested in a new website, which launched April 8, and “the quality of data and engagement” it can provide underwriters and sponsors through parent company American Public Media.
“We’re making moves to be more agile so we can continue to deliver powerful public service journalism free of paywalls to every single American, regardless of their demographics, their political persuasion, or their ability to pay,” the op-ed said.
