The military news website Military.com is “effectively dead” after staff reductions forced by parent company Valnet earlier this week, the publication’s newsroom union said Friday.
According to the guild, on Wednesday, an unspecified number of journalists were “fired,” and an unspecified number were “pushed out”; several of the affected staffers are veterans.
Iron Corp US Inc, an American company, acquired Military.Com in July, after previous owners Career Builder/Monster filed for bankruptcy.
In its statement Friday afternoon, posted on social media, the guild said that the team behind “the leading source of news on the military and veterans community is demolished. Meanwhile, Valnet, the new Canadian ownership, has begun to publish articles by freelancers who have little-to-no journalism experience.”
The work of these freelancers, the statement continues, “make clear” that the site “is moving away from hard news.” In addition, the guild said, staffers who were not pushed out or laid off were not informed that these freelancers had been contracted.
There remains a small contingent of dedicated staff continuing to work to the best of their ability and whom, despite Valnet’s union-busting efforts, are still part of the bargaining unit. The guild has not made unreasonable demands. We simply want to meet with management and work toward a fair labor agreement. We remain ready and willing to talk,” the statement concluded.
Update: A spokesperson for Military.com told TheWrap: “Notwithstanding News Guild social media postings alleging mass layoffs, the military news website Military.com remains an active publication with an experienced editorial team of editors and writers who continue to consistently publish important, original news articles on a wide range of topics—including the Pentagon, Capitol Hill, and the Veterans Administration.” The Military.com spokesperson also said there was no collective bargaining agreement between Valnet-affiliated Iron Corp and the Military.com staff, and therefore there was no ‘union-busting’ activity.
It’s only the latest series of brutal layoffs affecting websites recently purchased by Valnet. In May, the majority of staff at the video game website Polygon were laid off when Vox Media sold it to Valnet — these layoffs were conducted by Vox, after the sale was agreed upon.
At that time, referencing reporting by TheWrap that the company runs what a former employee referred to as a “sweatshop,” the National Writers Union condemned those layoffs, writing “Over the past decade, Valnet has made a business model out of buying up independently owned, fan-centric entertainment journalism sites, laying off large swaths of staff and replacing salaried labor with contract workers who are expected to produce large volumes of clickbait and copy work for little pay.”
Editor’s Note: The original article referred to “sweeping layoffs” at Military.com, which has been corrected to “staff reductions.” Journalists were offered the chance to keep their positions at lower salaries, but were not laid off. TheWrap regrets the error.
