What Reporters Should Do Before and After a Layoff
Sep 20, 2022
If you’re a journalist who was laid off (or is concerned about your job after recent cuts at Gannett and Bustle Digital Group), what should you do? Get advice from our EWA Radio episode, and review the resources below.
Public Editor Kavitha Cardoza spoke to several experts about how reporters can best prepare before and after layoffs occur. The experts also provided tips for networking, freelancing and ways to practice self-care.
Contributors to the discussion included Rachel Cohen, a senior policy reporter at Vox Media; Theola DeBose, the founder of JSKILLS; Kathy Lu, the diversity, inclusion and leadership trainer at Poynter Institute; and Naseem Miller, the senior health editor at The Journalist’s Resource.
Resources for Journalists
- How to Handle Being Laid
Off (NPR)
- (Michelle Singletary talks through some of the financial aspects of being laid off.)
- I got laid off. Here’s what I
learned from sharing on social
media (Poynter)
- Resources for journalists who’ve
been laid off (Poynter)
- 10 reasons you should hire a
journalist (Poynter)
- (Though this piece by Jill Geisler is written for recruiters, you should read it for inspiration about yourself.)
- You are not your job: Writer Arthur
Brooks on why careers shouldn’t dictate your
identity (WBUR)
- The Motherboard Guide to Getting
Laid Off (Vice)
- How to Leave Your Journalism Career:
Talk to me about all the ways (Medium)
- Self-care and coping with
trauma (Naseem Miller)
- Trauma informed journalism (Naseem Miller)