Are We Returning to a Pre-Internet Time for Entertainment Journalists?

“Journalism is Fucked and We’re All Doomed” is my ongoing column looking at issues affecting entertainment journalism writers.

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Back in December I won two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism awards via the LA Press Club for my story on the need for disabled allies and the ongoing crisis with LA's soundstages. It was a moment of triumph and validation for me, not just after a long road of writing but for everything that 2025 has come to stand for in our industry. If you're a fellow journalist who I've encountered in the wild no doubt you've heard me ask: Where do you see our industry going next year?

Most have jokingly said something akin to "as bad as it's only been, but worse" and it's hard not to see that's true. Penske Media Company continues to lay off journalists across their companies, most recently with Billboard, and unemployment remains at a four-year high at 4.3% so if jobs everywhere are bad, a niche group like journalism (let alone entertainment journalism) ain't rebounding quick anytime soon.

Akin to the soundstage owners I talked to for Variety, talking to entertainment journalists has felt like it's gone from "Survive to '25" to "Survive" to "Find a New Industry by 2027." Many entertainment journalists I talked to are either full-time freelance or were recently let go of long-time freelance positions and, for them, seeing established journalists now out of a job only makes them feel as if it's even more impossible to continue working.