A Thought On News - Making Every Problem Your Problem (1 Viewer)

[Joe Bryant]

My questions would be: Why? And also: How do you fix it?

Bari Weiss asked him that on the podcast. His first point was be more diverse in recruiting. Try bringing in people with diverse backgrounds in how they think about the world. I think he's Jewish, ( I know the host Bari Weiss is) and he said something I thought was sort of interesting in he said "how about recruiting from small Christian colleges"? That's maybe not his group or identity, but he thought it would be broadening the reach for people. Basically his point was that if they are going to be National Public Radio, it would make sense to have a viewpoint that is diverse like the public is.

 

[uwillbsoon]

My questions would be: Why? And also: How do you fix it?

Bari Weiss asked him that on the podcast. His first point was be more diverse in recruiting. Try bringing in people with diverse backgrounds in how they think about the world. I think he's Jewish, ( I know the host Bari Weiss is) and he said something I thought was sort of interesting in he said "how about recruiting from small Christian colleges"? That's maybe not his group or identity, but he thought it would be broadening the reach for people. Basically his point was that if they are going to be National Public Radio, it would make sense to have a viewpoint that is diverse like the public is.

Agree, it should be diverse. But what if conservatives are very difficult to hire because they lack the qualifications and/or desire to apply?

I'd be surprised if they didn't recruit from small Christian colleges. The problem is, those who want to be journalists at NPR are probably the liberal members of those colleges.

There's no doubt NPR is to blame for some poor leadership. But do you know any college educated conservatives that want to work at NPR?

It's like how many liberal journalists want to work at Fox?

 

[Joe Bryant]

Agree, it should be diverse. But what if conservatives are very difficult to hire because they lack the qualifications and/or desire to apply?

I'd be surprised if they didn't recruit from small Christian colleges. The problem is, those who want to be journalists at NPR are probably the liberal members of those colleges.

There's no doubt NPR is to blame for some poor leadership. But do you know any college educated conservatives that want to work at NPR?

It's like how many liberal journalists want to work at Fox?

For sure it's no easy fix. I was just relaying what the NPR Editor said in answer to your question.

And to your question of how many liberal journalists want to work at FOX, that's exactly the point. The NPR Editor (now former) is saying NPR should be different than FOX. If it's "Public" radio it should have a viewpoint that's more representative of the American Public. And not cater to the partisan sides.

 

[MTskibum]

My wife and I are middle of the road politcally and 10 years ago we listened to NPR as our go to radio station. We never listen to it now. I am surprised the drop off in middle of road listeners is not greater.

What do you listen to now?

90% Music/sports

5% Bloomberg - just because they have the highest chance of talking either economics or tech without mentioning politics
1% Fox business
1% cnn
1% nbc
1% etc
1

I choose whichever station is not talking about politics at the time and will listen to it. I probably listen to bloomberg as much as all of the rest of the news stations on sirius combined.

 

[Sand]

My questions would be: Why? And also: How do you fix it?

A good start would be not to hire a CEO that believes in rejecting the influence of the most influential civilization in the last 2000 years (i.e. "white male westernized constructs"). Completely asinine - such ideologues should be instantly rejected in news journalism. Yet they are lauded and revered for holding to such trite biases based on a skewed view of historical morality.

 

[TripItUp]

A core issue is availability. Journalism requires a college education. Dems are increasingly college educated. And those Republicans that are, aren't going into journalism because there's an anti-journalism streak in the party.

is the lack of conservative journalists a real issue?...I haven't heard this. (I'm middle of the road FTR)

 

[uwillbsoon]

A core issue is availability. Journalism requires a college education. Dems are increasingly college educated. And those Republicans that are, aren't going into journalism because there's an anti-journalism streak in the party.

is the lack of conservative journalists a real issue?...I haven't heard this. (I'm middle of the road FTR)

No idea how reliable this is, but 3.4% of journalists say they're Republicans according to this: https://www.theamericanjournalist.org/post/american-journalist-finding

It's dropped from 18% in 2002. My opinion is a lot of that is because there's an anti-journalism bent in the party, as I mentioned earlier.

 

[trader jake]

Gave up reading or watching the news about 4 years ago. Life changing.

Best decision I ever made.

Congrats ChiefD. Made the same decision years and years ago with sports. When people quote the latest Hott take by the usual suspects ...I simply move on. Who cares what non-sense those attention-seeking sock puppets have to yammer on about today? I vote against them by ignoring their content in every way possible.

Also, seems like "news" would be more appropriate throughout this entire thread.

 

[uwillbsoon]

My questions would be: Why? And also: How do you fix it?

A good start would be not to hire a CEO that believes in rejecting the influence of the most influential civilization in the last 2000 years (i.e. "white male westernized constructs"). Completely asinine - such ideologues should be instantly rejected in news journalism. Yet they are lauded and revered for holding to such trite biases based on a skewed view of historical morality.

I believe most of the complaints leveled by Uri Berliner were about or happened under the former CEO, a white male.

But yes, I agree idealogues should be instantly rejected in news journalism. I'm not even sure how she's qualified to lead NPR.

 

[Sand]

A core issue is availability. Journalism requires a college education. Dems are increasingly college educated. And those Republicans that are, aren't going into journalism because there's an anti-journalism streak in the party.

is the lack of conservative journalists a real issue?...I haven't heard this. (I'm middle of the road FTR)

No it's not. Conservative journalists dominate in radio and a lot of streaming venues (independent YouTube channels, etc.)

 

[trader jake]

I worked at a newspaper that had DEI-type rules and leadership in the 90s.

[snip]
But I’ve always had trouble substituting others’ experiences for mine. I’m guilty of that.

Gotta say rockaction, that's disappointing to hear. Sadly, it appears this is more and more the norm.

BTW - To illustrate this concept I've heard the blind men and the elephant example more and more in various meetings of late. Hopefully another parable emerges soon or this one may enter bingo card territory.

Blind men and an elephant - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[massraider]

I'm not going to hold it against anyone if they decide to avoid journalism as a career. That's wise career planning, no matter your leanings

 

[uwillbsoon]

A core issue is availability. Journalism requires a college education. Dems are increasingly college educated. And those Republicans that are, aren't going into journalism because there's an anti-journalism streak in the party.

is the lack of conservative journalists a real issue?...I haven't heard this. (I'm middle of the road FTR)

No it's not. Conservative journalists dominate in radio and a lot of streaming venues (independent YouTube channels, etc.)

See the study quoted above.

I guess it depends on your definition of journalist vs your definition of opinion.

 

[Terminalxylem]

I believe everyone would be happier if they didn’t watch the news or visit news websites. Yes, you would be less informed, but happier.

Yeah, I’ve come to the conclusion that being well-informed is vastly overrated.

Yup. Especially when the information serves no purpose, other than elicit an emotional response.

But how uninformed can one be, while fulfilling some semblance of civic duty?

 

[Max Power]

My questions would be: Why? And also: How do you fix it?

A good start would be not to hire a CEO that believes in rejecting the influence of the most influential civilization in the last 2000 years (i.e. "white male westernized constructs"). Completely asinine - such ideologues should be instantly rejected in news journalism. Yet they are lauded and revered for holding to such trite biases based on a skewed view of historical morality.

I think it shows us what NPR wants to be. Truth is optional at this stage.

 

[The Z Machine]

There's a lot of truth to this, but the decline in ad revenues can't explain the fall of NPR.

These legacy institutions -- media, academia, government -- are all failing for the same reason. They've spent the last 10 years hiring people based on ideology instead of competence. You can get away with that for a little while. Eventually people take notice, usually after some spectacular failures. Of which we've had several recently.

Speaking of NPR - there was a good article today by an NPR editor about how NPR lost the trust of the American people. It's worth the read.

Not to wade too deep into these waters, but I find myself watching Breaking Points on Youtube a good bit. It's pretty balanced with heaps of skepticism. IMO, better than big media fare.

Great editorial. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Joe Bryant]

I believe everyone would be happier if they didn’t watch the news or visit news websites. Yes, you would be less informed, but happier.

Yeah, I’ve come to the conclusion that being well-informed is vastly overrated.

Yup. Especially when the information serves no purpose, other than elicit an emotional response.

But how uninformed can one be, while fulfilling some semblance of civic duty?

That's the real question. I think the answer is probably a lot less informed than maybe we think.

Back to the original post, there's often not a lot of need to be "informed" on stories that don't affect you.

But at some point, they do affect you.

I believe being informed can be accomplished with a lot less news consumption than the news media would have us believe.

 

[The Z Machine]

One has to assume that AI journalism will simply be worse for all of the things mentioned here. It will further tuned to sell the commodity (the audience) to the buyer (the advertiser). It will have no compunction on making the most efficient use of emotion to do so. It will reinforce echo chambers, not break down walls, as AI will tailor the output (even with the same inputs) to the singular audience to generate more engagement.

I don't know how to counteract this trend and I feel even more sorry for human journalists that get crapped on, get fired, or get silenced than for the human audiences that don't get anything close to a truth-based, low editorial content source of news.

 

[uwillbsoon]

I believe everyone would be happier if they didn’t watch the news or visit news websites. Yes, you would be less informed, but happier.

Yeah, I’ve come to the conclusion that being well-informed is vastly overrated.

Yup. Especially when the information serves no purpose, other than elicit an emotional response.

But how uninformed can one be, while fulfilling some semblance of civic duty?

That's the real question. I think the answer is probably a lot less informed than maybe we think.

Back to the original post, there's often not a lot of need to be "informed" on stories that don't affect you.

But at some point, they do affect you.

I believe being informed can be accomplished with a lot less news consumption than the news media would have us believe.

I think it's less of the national/international news that gets most eyeballs.

But more local news. Maybe it's just me, but there's a real lack of good local journalism.

 

[The Z Machine]

FWIW, my favorite show on NPR is Marketplace. I don't think it has the same magnitude of issues highlighted by Uri Berliner, but that show is probably not immune either, especially regarding choosing the topics for their pieces.

 

[The Z Machine]

I believe being informed can be accomplished with a lot less news consumption than the news media would have us believe.

That was one of the greatest things about the old FBG. I didn't need to seek out a lot of news sources. People broke news on here and I got to hear a lot of different opinions on those stories. Sure, it was filtered through a lens of mostly white, overwhelmingly male, mostly heterosexual, mostly GenX, and mostly sports fans. But I fit into those groups so it was easy to not be really bothered by that lack of diversity of background.

 

[Joe Bryant]

I believe being informed can be accomplished with a lot less news consumption than the news media would have us believe.

That was one of the greatest things about the old FBG. I didn't need to seek out a lot of news sources. People broke news on here and I got to hear a lot of different opinions on those stories. Sure, it was filtered through a lens of mostly white, overwhelmingly male, mostly heterosexual, mostly GenX, and mostly sports fans. But I fit into those groups so it was easy to not be really bothered by that lack of diversity of background.

Thanks. We disagree on the quality and objectivity of the PSF for news but that's a moot point now.

Something like https://join1440.com/ is light years better at helping one stay informed in my opinion.

 

[rockaction]

I don't see how this isn't political. His thesis is NPR isn't diverse politically.

Uh, it's totally political. It's not even close to not political. Anything that concentrates on DEI and the disparity of Republican/Democrats on a news staff is political, but I think we can remain neutral about it and let it pass. Joe wanted to post it, and he owns the joint. But it's Bari Weiss for God's sake. That's pure politics.

Gotta say rockaction, that's disappointing to hear. Sadly, it appears this is more and more the norm.

I think maybe you're taking what I said just a touch differently than I meant. I'm pretty sympathetic to people's experiences and such. I just have a hard time imagining that people weren't exposed to intersectionality back about thirty years ago when I was exposed to it. I just need to remember that we all have different life experiences. It's just that identity politics of that sort are what I've argued against for so long I can't remember it ever not being an issue.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

I don't see how this isn't political. His thesis is NPR isn't diverse politically.

Uh, it's totally political. It's not even close to not political. Anything that concentrates on DEI and the disparity of Republican/Democrats on a news staff is political, but I think we can remain neutral about it and let it pass. Joe wanted to post it, and he owns the joint. But it's Bari Weiss for God's sake. That's pure politics.

Gotta say rockaction, that's disappointing to hear. Sadly, it appears this is more and more the norm.

I think maybe you're taking what I said just a touch differently than I meant. I'm pretty sympathetic to people's experiences and such. I just have a hard time imagining that people weren't exposed to intersectionality back about thirty years ago when I was exposed to it. I just need to remember that we all have different life experiences. It's just that identity politics of that sort are what I've argued against for so long I can't remember it ever not being an issue.

Yeah, but . . .

In fairness to everybody else, the terminology was different 30 years ago. I don't think the term "intersectionality" had broken out of the legal literature in the 1990s, for example. The concept was definitely there, but it wasn't called that, so you can understand why people think it's new today. Also, most people maybe encountered this stuff in college, blew it off (the same way they blow off the intermediate value theorem, the Platt Amendment, and all sorts of other stuff that doesn't involve drinking or alcohol), and spent the next 30 years forgetting about it. They didn't get to ride in the passenger seat for multiple decades watching this stuff grow and develop the way that people like you and I did. Our perspectives are different because we marinated in this sort of thing and it's not novel to us.

I do kind of wish people hadn't been so dismissive of this movement, say, ten years ago. ("They're just dumb college kids - they'll grow out of it.") But it's not like persuading a few people in the former PSF would have changed anything.

 

[rockaction]

Yeah, but . . .

In fairness to everybody else, the terminology was different 30 years ago.

Absolutely. No judgments whatsoever and I didn't mean to come off that way at all.

And the terminology we had—which was cruder than the categories that intersectionality covers—was "race, gender, class." And then you had sexuality and physical disability. I had a head start on figuring out that they were going to be hierarchical or "intersecting" because of Audre Lorde. I did not know the term "intersectionality" until about eight years ago (?). So yeah, I don't expect anybody to hit the ground running with this stuff. Like I said, I just have to remember not everybody was walking in my shoes.

 

[rockaction]

I do kind of wish people hadn't been so dismissive of this movement, say, ten years ago. ("They're just dumb college kids - they'll grow out of it.")

I sort of feel like that’s been my life the past thirty-two years, frankly. I was posting and talking about radical gender stuff for about twenty or so years now. I’ve only been here about twelve, but those old weird and drunk gender threads nobody got (and they shouldn’t have) from like 2015 were a bit nuts.

 

[FairWarning]

My questions would be: Why? And also: How do you fix it?

Bari Weiss asked him that on the podcast. His first point was be more diverse in recruiting. Try bringing in people with diverse backgrounds in how they think about the world. I think he's Jewish, ( I know the host Bari Weiss is) and he said something I thought was sort of interesting in he said "how about recruiting from small Christian colleges"? That's maybe not his group or identity, but he thought it would be broadening the reach for people. Basically his point was that if they are going to be National Public Radio, it would make sense to have a viewpoint that is diverse like the public is.

Agree, it should be diverse. But what if conservatives are very difficult to hire because they lack the qualifications and/or desire to apply?

I'd be surprised if they didn't recruit from small Christian colleges. The problem is, those who want to be journalists at NPR are probably the liberal members of those colleges.

There's no doubt NPR is to blame for some poor leadership. But do you know any college educated conservatives that want to work at NPR?

It's like how many liberal journalists want to work at Fox?

Let’s use Kat Timpf from fox for example. She graduated from Hillsdale College, I doubt NPR was her first choice, and they probably were not looking at her either.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Here's an example where opinion can overtake a news story. (And it does say this is opinion on the story).

https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/tesla-started-laying-off-14000-employees-it-couldnt-have-gone-worse.html

Tesla Started Laying Off 14,000 Employees. It Couldn't Have Gone Worse

The actual news of course is Tesla laid off 14,000 people.

But the controlling idea of this story was "Let's make Tesla/Musk look as embarrassing as possible".

Stories of people who didn't get notice they'd been laid off or people who didn't feel the way they were laid off was proper.

I can't imagine when a company lays off 14,000 people, there aren't some who think they were wronged.

The story had nothing to do with the actual economic conditions as a whole or the specific business conditions at Tesla that might be relevant. Real business information.

Instead, the dramatic subtitle of "It Couldn't Have Gone Worse" kept the focus on clearly making it a "Let's see how we can embarrass Musk" story.

I think "journalism" that's cleary so agenda focused is part of what erodes people's trust.

And yes, it goes both ways. You see the same type of "business journalism" stories gleefully highlighting failures for companies with progressive policies and the "go woke, go broke".

They have little or nothing to do with the actual business story. It's an opportunity for victory lapping or mocking the "other".

 

[uwillbsoon]

Here's another example where the news turns into opinion.

https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/tesla-started-laying-off-14000-employees-it-couldnt-have-gone-worse.html

Tesla Started Laying Off 14,000 Employees. It Couldn't Have Gone Worse

The actual news of course is Tesla laid off 14,000 people.

But the controlling idea of this story was "Let's make Tesla/Musk look as embarrassing as possible".

Stories of people who didn't get notice they'd been laid off or people who didn't feel the way they were laid off was proper.

I can't imagine when a company lays off 14,000 people, there aren't some who think they were wronged.

The story had nothing to do with the actual economic conditions as a whole or the specific business conditions at Tesla that might be relevant. Real business information.

Instead, the dramatic subtitle of "It Couldn't Have Gone Worse" kept the focus on clearly making it a "Let's see how we can embarrass Musk" story.

I think "journalism" that's cleary so agenda focused is part of what erodes people's trust.

And yes, it goes both ways. You see the same type of "business journalism" stories gleefully highlighting failures for companies with progressive policies and the "go woke, go broke".

They have little or nothing to do with the actual business story. It's an opportunity for victory lapping or mocking the "other".

I'm confused by your point. This is opinion - it's stated at the top of the article. That's what opinion is - it takes news and puts it through the writer's lens.

 

[uwillbsoon]

How my NPR colleague failed at “viewpoint diversity”

Uri Berliner gave a perfect example of the kind of journalism he says he’s against.

steveinskeep.substack.com

Great rebuttal about Uri's piece being factually inaccurate.

Some great quotes:

"
He writes of a dismaying experience with his managers: “I asked why we keep using that word that many Hispanics hate—Latinx.”

Why indeed? It’s true that many Latinos don’t like this ungendered term, including some who work at NPR. That may be why NPR does not generally use the term. I did a search at npr.org for the previous 90 days. I found:

197 uses of Latino

201 uses of Latina

And just nine uses of “Latinx,” usually by a guest on NPR who certainly has the right to say it."


"The story is written in a way that is probably satisfying to the people who already believe it, and unpersuasive to anyone else—a mirror image of his critique of NPR."

"Many journalists describe the debate within their profession as not so much left vs. right as younger vs. older, or old-school journalism vs. a more activist position. Such debates can be good; but sometimes the traditionalists have fallen silent or struggled to find the language to hold up their end of the discussion. Uri was one who spoke openly, but ineffectively. He didn’t work any of the beats he complained about, which might be why his critique misfired so wildly."

"We need to report and write more rigorously, and prove every point we make, conscious that someone out there will definitely not be on the same page. We need to be curious. We need to keep searching for new voices, and new facts. The whole of humanity is out there to be covered."

 

[Doug B]

Here's another example where the news turns into opinion.

It's not billed as "news" -- it's explicitly an opinion column. The byline of your Inc.com link reads, in full:

EXPERT OPINION BY JASON ATEN, TECH COLUMNIST @JASONATEN
APR 17, 2024

 

[Doug B]

I was curious about how straight news print pieces would cover the Tesla layoffs. Here is a sampling, placed in a quote box to control length.

EDIT: The first, third, and fourth links below are paywalled, but the parts I quoted are publicly available without subscription.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/04/15/tesla-layoffs-elon-musk-ev/

Tesla will shed more than 10 percent of its workforce (Washington Post's original reporting)
The move by Elon Musk comes after the company reported a sharp decline in vehicle deliveries in the first quarter

Tesla notified employees Monday that the company would slash more than 10 percent of its staff, the latest setback for one of the world’s top electric-vehicle makers, which is struggling to hold its place as a vanguard in the EV industry amid cooling demand, increasing scrutiny from regulators and controversy around its unpredictable chief executive, Elon Musk.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/04/15/tesla-layoff-workforce-sales-decline/a06610ee-fb36-11ee-87ac-20f7e67cbe29_story.html

Tesla plans to lay off 10% of workforce after dismal quarterly sales, multiple news outlets report (Washington Post's reprint of Associated Press)

After reporting dismal first-quarter sales, Tesla is planning to lay off about a tenth of its workforce as it tries to cut costs, multiple media outlets reported Monday.

CEO Elon Musk detailed the plans in a memo sent to employees. The layoffs could affect about 14,000 of the 140,473 workers employed by the Austin, Texas, company at the end of last year.

Musk’s memo said that as Tesla prepares for its next phase of growth, “it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,” The New York Times and CNBC reported. News of the layoffs was first reported by electric vehicle website Electrek.

https://www.wsj.com/tech/tesla-layoffs-elon-musk-email-29388d4e

Tesla Plans to Lay Off More Than 10% of Workforce
Two of Elon Musk’s top deputies also depart the world’s most valuable automaker

Tesla plans to slash more than 10% of its global workforce and two of Elon Musk’s top deputies said they were leaving the company, a shake-up that reflects a broader cooling in consumer demand for electric vehicles.

Tesla to slash more than 10% of its global workforce

CEO Elon Musk cited job overlap and the need to reduce costs. Bloomberg News estimated that the layoffs would affect more than 14,000 employees.

www.latimes.com

Tesla to slash more than 10% of its global workforce

Tesla Inc. is laying off more than 10% of its workforce, Chief Executive Elon Musk wrote in an email to staff.

Musk cited job overlap and the need to reduce costs, according to the email sent late Sunday. Bloomberg News estimated that the layoffs would affect more than 14,000 employees.

“As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,” Musk wrote in the email viewed by The Times.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/15/business/tesla-staff-cut/index.html

Tesla to cut more than 10% of its global staff
Tesla is reportedly cutting more than 10% of its global staff of 140,000.

The cuts for the company, which had nearly doubled its overall headcount since the end of 2020, is just the latest example of the effects of more competition and softer demand in the electric car sector.

An email that CEO Elon Musk sent to staff over the weekend attributed the planned job cuts to the need for “cost reductions and increasing productivity,” according to a report from Reuters. It did not mention anything about the slowdown in demand for electric vehicles or about Tesla sales.

Tesla to lay off more than 10% of workforce

Tesla, the world's most valuable automaker, will lay off about 10% of its global workforce, a move that will affect about 15,000 workers.

www.foxbusiness.com

Tesla to lay off more than 10% of workforce
Tesla's layoffs will affect about 15K workers worldwide

Tesla confirmed its laying off more than 10% of its global workforce following weak first quarter deliveries and increasing competition in the electric vehicle (EV) market, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Over the years, we have grown rapidly with multiple factories scaling around the globe. With this rapid growth, there has been a duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas. We believe it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the Company for cost reductions and increasing productivity. This action will prepare Tesla for our next phase of growth, as we are developing some of the most revolutionary technologies in auto, energy and artificial intelligence", the filing detailed.

This followed a leaked internal email from CEO Elon Musk saying that the automaker is looking to cut costs and increase productivity after years of rapid growth that have led to duplication in some roles and functions in certain areas of the company, tech publication Electrek reported on Monday.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

I see we're back to the "it's not happening" stage of the discussion. Let me know when we cycle back to "it's happening and it's good" or "why do you even care."

 

[uwillbsoon]

I was curious about how straight news print pieces would cover the Tesla layoffs. Here is a sampling, placed in a quote box to control length.

EDIT: The first, third, and fourth links below are paywalled, but the parts I quoted are publicly available without subscription.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/04/15/tesla-layoffs-elon-musk-ev/

Tesla will shed more than 10 percent of its workforce (Washington Post's original reporting)
The move by Elon Musk comes after the company reported a sharp decline in vehicle deliveries in the first quarter

Tesla notified employees Monday that the company would slash more than 10 percent of its staff, the latest setback for one of the world’s top electric-vehicle makers, which is struggling to hold its place as a vanguard in the EV industry amid cooling demand, increasing scrutiny from regulators and controversy around its unpredictable chief executive, Elon Musk.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/04/15/tesla-layoff-workforce-sales-decline/a06610ee-fb36-11ee-87ac-20f7e67cbe29_story.html

Tesla plans to lay off 10% of workforce after dismal quarterly sales, multiple news outlets report (Washington Post's reprint of Associated Press)

After reporting dismal first-quarter sales, Tesla is planning to lay off about a tenth of its workforce as it tries to cut costs, multiple media outlets reported Monday.

CEO Elon Musk detailed the plans in a memo sent to employees. The layoffs could affect about 14,000 of the 140,473 workers employed by the Austin, Texas, company at the end of last year.

Musk’s memo said that as Tesla prepares for its next phase of growth, “it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,” The New York Times and CNBC reported. News of the layoffs was first reported by electric vehicle website Electrek.

https://www.wsj.com/tech/tesla-layoffs-elon-musk-email-29388d4e

Tesla Plans to Lay Off More Than 10% of Workforce
Two of Elon Musk’s top deputies also depart the world’s most valuable automaker

Tesla plans to slash more than 10% of its global workforce and two of Elon Musk’s top deputies said they were leaving the company, a shake-up that reflects a broader cooling in consumer demand for electric vehicles.

Tesla to slash more than 10% of its global workforce

CEO Elon Musk cited job overlap and the need to reduce costs. Bloomberg News estimated that the layoffs would affect more than 14,000 employees.

www.latimes.com

Tesla to slash more than 10% of its global workforce

Tesla Inc. is laying off more than 10% of its workforce, Chief Executive Elon Musk wrote in an email to staff.

Musk cited job overlap and the need to reduce costs, according to the email sent late Sunday. Bloomberg News estimated that the layoffs would affect more than 14,000 employees.

“As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,” Musk wrote in the email viewed by The Times.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/15/business/tesla-staff-cut/index.html

Tesla to cut more than 10% of its global staff
Tesla is reportedly cutting more than 10% of its global staff of 140,000.

The cuts for the company, which had nearly doubled its overall headcount since the end of 2020, is just the latest example of the effects of more competition and softer demand in the electric car sector.

An email that CEO Elon Musk sent to staff over the weekend attributed the planned job cuts to the need for “cost reductions and increasing productivity,” according to a report from Reuters. It did not mention anything about the slowdown in demand for electric vehicles or about Tesla sales.

Tesla to lay off more than 10% of workforce

Tesla, the world's most valuable automaker, will lay off about 10% of its global workforce, a move that will affect about 15,000 workers.

www.foxbusiness.com

Tesla to lay off more than 10% of workforce
Tesla's layoffs will affect about 15K workers worldwide

Tesla confirmed its laying off more than 10% of its global workforce following weak first quarter deliveries and increasing competition in the electric vehicle (EV) market, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Over the years, we have grown rapidly with multiple factories scaling around the globe. With this rapid growth, there has been a duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas. We believe it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the Company for cost reductions and increasing productivity. This action will prepare Tesla for our next phase of growth, as we are developing some of the most revolutionary technologies in auto, energy and artificial intelligence", the filing detailed.

This followed a leaked internal email from CEO Elon Musk saying that the automaker is looking to cut costs and increase productivity after years of rapid growth that have led to duplication in some roles and functions in certain areas of the company, tech publication Electrek reported on Monday.

Thanks for doing the legwork. These seem more fair than I expected - most pointed to cooling demand. They quoted Musk himself. Didn't like this, however: "...controversy around its unpredictable chief executive, Elon Musk." I would have edited that out, unless further in the story they had something that backed up that cooling demand for Tesla vehicles was due to Musk's controversy.

 

[uwillbsoon]

If you're referring to the rebuttal, I recommend reading it. He doesn't say it's not happening, but that Uri did what he accused NPR of doing. Which doesn't help lead to change.

I think everyone agrees NPR is moving further left - from a starting point of being left. But Uri making up facts to prove his point doesn't really help get people internally - who are sympathetic to his views - on his side to foment the needed change.

If that's not what you're referring to, apologize for misinterpreting.

 

[Doug B]

I see we're back to the "it's not happening" stage of the discussion. Let me know when we cycle back to "it's happening and it's good" or "why do you even care."

To what is this referring?

 

[Doug B]

Didn't like this, however: "...controversy around its unpredictable chief executive, Elon Musk."

I caught that in the Washington Post piece, as well, and gave it a few readings.

The language is loaded to be sure. However ... somewhat to my surprise, it's not unfactual. It's just that someone worked hard to report the facts in as unflattering a manner as possible. Factual or not ...IMHO that's still editorializing.

That (run-on!) sentence was crafted carefully to avoid explicitly communicating a cause-and-effect relationship between cooling demand and Musk's controversy. Rather, the writer used the word "amid" to indicate that the things mentioned are happening more or less simultaneously without assigning causes and effects. They're likely happy to let Post readers draw their own conclusions.

 

[uwillbsoon]

Didn't like this, however: "...controversy around its unpredictable chief executive, Elon Musk."

I caught that in the Washington Post piece, as well, and gave it a few readings.

The language is loaded to be sure. However ... somewhat to my surprise, it's not unfactual. It's just that someone worked hard to report the facts in an unflattering a manner as possible. Factual or not ...IMHO that's still editorializing.

That (run-on!) sentence was crafted carefully to avoid explicitly communicating a cause-and-effect relationship between cooling demand and Musk's controversy. Rather, the writer used the word "amid" to indicate that the things mentioned are happening more or less simultaneously without assigning causes and effects. They're likely happy to let Post readers draw their own conclusions.

Yeah. I think where it was probably made it worse. If it had been lower in the story in a "recent history" type graph that had more context, it wouldn't have looked so bad.

 

[Captain Cranks]

Most people aren't interested in objective media or news that doesn't pertain to their lives. Media companies are in the business of making money and gladly serve up what is in demand: Sensationalized stories and information that confirms the viewer's bias.

Exhibit A: The average conservative complaining about MSM bias hasn't migrated to objective media sources. They've migrated to media sources that are of equal or even more biased in the other direction.

As usual, we're to blame. Not the media companies.

 

[Captain Cranks]

As usual, we're to blame. Not the media companies

To emphasize this point, if people spent as much time complaining about the consumption of biased and sensationalized media as they did about biased and sensationalized media, then we might get somewhere as a society.

If you have a family member who you'd like to quit smoking, you don't go on and on about how bad Philip Morris is.

 

[dgreen]

As usual, we're to blame. Not the media companies

To emphasize this point, if people spent as much time complaining about the consumption of biased and sensationalized media as they did about biased and sensationalized media, then we might get somewhere as a society.

If you have a family member who you'd like to quit smoking, you don't go on and on about how bad Philip Morris is.

Interesting analogy. I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your point on possibly a better path to take, but didn't society go in that exact direction of blaming the tobacco companies?

 

[Captain Cranks]

Interesting analogy. I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your point on possibly a better path to take, but didn't society go in that exact direction of blaming the tobacco companies?

Yes, but the product in that case isn't protected by the first amendment.

 

[Joe Bryant]

My mistake on the Inc article I referenced. It does say opinion. I apologize. I'll edit.

The bigger point is the idea legacy media too often misses the actual news and tries to make one care about when it's not directly related to the person. Or leans toward a conclusion they're making that isn't fully there.

 

[massraider]

I would have edited that out, unless further in the story they had something that backed up that cooling demand for Tesla vehicles was due to Musk's controversy

People have written for years that the stock price wasn't backed up by fundamentals as a car company, and the stock has spiked repeatedly on comments and actions by Musk.

 

[uwillbsoon]

My mistake on the Inc article I referenced. It does say opinion. I apologize. I'll edit.

The bigger point is the idea legacy media too often misses the actual news and tries to make one care about when it's not directly related to the person. Or leans toward a conclusion they're making that isn't fully there.

Do you have examples? Honestly asking, because that's not been my experience. But I mostly consume news, not opinion.

 

[Joe Bryant]

From Inskeep's article:

A careful read of the article shows many sweeping statements for which the writer is unable to offer evidence. He says there is no debate over stories at NPR, just a “frictionless” process like an “assembly line.” I have been involved in passionate debates over stories at Morning Edition, as Uri knows; I have sometimes relied on his advice. Uri is a prominent editor—did he approve bad stories without friction?

Where in Berliner's article does he say "there is no debate over stories at NPR"?

 

[Joe Bryant]

Do you have examples? Honestly asking, because that's not been my experience. But I mostly consume news, not opinion.

Sure. I don't see how this won't get political but Berliner's article laid out three that he observed: Russian collusion, Coronavirus lab leak, Hunter Biden laptop.

And yes, I see now this wasn't a good idea to allow the topic as those are all political. Please let's not sidetrack to those as we've beaten those to death. I just wanted to give you an answer.

 

[Joe Bryant]

But I mostly consume news, not opinion.

What news sources have you found to be objective and stick to the news?

 

[uwillbsoon]

But I mostly consume news, not opinion.

What news sources have you found to be objective and stick to the news?

Reuters is the first that comes to mind.

The problem is a lot of what you call legacy media has news and opinion arms. I don't read NPR, but my guess is their news is less troublesome than most think. Just like most on the left would be surprised that Fox's news arm isn't as bad as they'd think.

I don't typically read either of those sources, so I could be wrong.

You've posted about 1440 as being unbiased. Wasn't aware of them and didn't sign up. Are they doing original reporting or are they aggregating? Based on a quick look at their website, seems aggregating? What sources are they using? Those sources would seem to fit your criteria if you find them unbiased?

 

[bigbottom]

I believe everyone would be happier if they didn’t watch the news or visit news websites. Yes, you would be less informed, but happier.

Yeah, I’ve come to the conclusion that being well-informed is vastly overrated.

Yup. Especially when the information serves no purpose, other than elicit an emotional response.

But how uninformed can one be, while fulfilling some semblance of civic duty?

Pretty uninformed I’d say. Or, put differently, about 99.9% of the items I used to be informed on bear pretty much no relevance whatsoever to things that I consider to be related to my civic duties.

Back in the day, and due in no small part to the PSF, it was rare that someone asked me about some news event or controversy and I had not already heard about it and already formed an opinion. It was a huge investment of time and mental energy. Now, I get asked those same questions, and I happily (and truthfully) respond - “no, I haven’t heard anything about that.”