with Carrie Lyell @Seej
It’s a scary time to work in the media, with 2019 bringing huge numbers of redundancies across some of the world’s leading digital platforms. In the past month alone, BuzzFeed and VICE have each laid off 250 staff, with a further 20 job losses at HuffPost. The Pool recently announced it was going into administration, while Reinery29 has also said it’ll be cutting 10% of its workforce. While of course I feel for the individuals who’ve lost their jobs at a time of economic uncertainty (hello, Brexit), my heart is also hurting for us – the LGBTQI community – as it is minority groups who will ultimately suffer. It’s hard enough to get our narratives out there as it is. At BuzzFeed alone, a once thriving LGBTQI vertical has been cut to the bone, and HuffPost no longer has dedicated staff covering LGBTQI issues, meaning drastically fewer opportunities for queer writers, and fewer chances for us as individuals to see our stories told accurately and authentically in the digital space.