‘Vice News Tonight’ To End As Company Undergoes News Layoffs And Restructuring
27.04.2023 - 14:35
/ deadline.com
Vice Media Group announced that it was streamlining its news division, including layoffs and the cancelation of its signature newscast, Vice News Tonight.
Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala, co-CEOs of Vice Media Group, said that the changes were in “response to the current market conditions and business realities facing VMG and the broader news and media industry.”
“To be incredibly clear, Vice News is core to Vice Media Group and fundamental to our business. We are NOT exiting the news business, but we are changing the shape of Vice News to position the whole Company for long-term opportunities and improve how we deliver important, ground-breaking journalism well into the future,” they wrote.
The staff reductions are the latest to hit the news business, with both traditional and digital outlets hit by a downturn in the ad market. Last week, BuzzFeed announced that it is shutting down BuzzFeed News. ABC News also has gone through layoffs, with word this week that Nate Silver, the founder of FiveThirtyEight, would be leaving.
Vice Media also is in the midst of efforts to sell or recapitalize. Nancy Dubuc exited as CEO of Vice Media Group in February.
Dixon and Lokhandwala said that Vice News would be streamlined to “focus on our growing digital video business and our News documentary and series production business for VTV and distribution partners worldwide.”
Vice News Tonight, which airs on Vice TV, will have its last broadcast in May, they said.
The newscast has been on the air for nearly seven years, with more than 1,000 episodes produced. It was originally broadcast on HBO, but then relaunched on Vice TV, the joint venture with A+E Networks. The newscast won a Peabody for its 2017 coverage of the Charlottesville