Hollywood Reporter and Billboard Tech Savvy Strike Back
April 17, 2020
I wonder if there were blinking vcr clocks in the homes of the senior executives of Valence Media when the management wizards were young?
The lesson of the vcr clocks that might be correct twice a day or never has been forgotten.
“Workers at Hollywood Reporter and Billboard Vandalize Website After Getting Laid Off” revealed after the near sacrilege of modifying entertainment-related data. The article revealed:
“In the wake of Covid19 pandemic, Valence Media has decided to lay off their entire web IT staff. Effective today,” the Billboard website read in a post credited to “devops.”
And what else did the “IT staff” do? Insert a reference to the fun-loving comedy Animal House.
The article about the incident added:
Valence also owns brands like Vibe, Media Rights Capital, and Dick Clark Productions. More than 100 people have been laid off at Valence, roughly 30 percent of its editorial division, according to CNN. In a companywide memo some of the cuts were blamed on “advertising market conditions” related to the coronavirus pandemic, but other cuts were supposedly part of a restructuring that had already been planned. Valence is also instituting pay cuts of between 15 and 25 percent for anyone left making over $100,000 per year and co-CEOs Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu are reportedly no longer going to be taking a salary.
Valence may or may not have deserved the Animal House reference. A number of “real” news and “dead tree” outfits are are far from a happy place.
The digital revolution moves forward. Substantive, local news might be useful to some people. Without financial support, the experiences I enjoyed at the Courier Journal & Louisville Times Co. before the fine, fine Gannett operation “improved” operations will be tough to find.
Stephen E Arnold, April 17, 2020
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One Response to “Hollywood Reporter and Billboard Tech Savvy Strike Back”
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Do you have any video of that? I’d like to find out some additional information.