The silent needles in the conference room can be heard, and I am afraid of the possible "blood swamp". This will not only be a tragedy for the newspapers, but also a tragedy for the entire local news industry. If the entertainment capital of the United States will become a local news desert, then the situation elsewhere can be imagined that there is no similar news service in California at all.

No one will question the young boss's high layoff knife will fall, so the people present will be worried. Once the layoff decision is issued, the newspaper and employees will inevitably have to go against each other. This is not only about individuals, but about the city, the institution, about the people living here and what they have lost.

"Boss, if you are dissatisfied with the secret journalism system, you can reform it, but if all of it is laid off, it will undoubtedly prevent local governments from being regulated and allow them to operate in an opaque and open environment, providing the greatest help. Layoffs will harm this important California agency and one of the news giants in our country."

Editor-in-chief John Carroll looked solemn and said earnestly that he hoped to convince his boss to reconsider the decision to reconsider the bloodbath. After all, this is related to the jobs of hundreds of people and the influence of the Los Angeles Times in the local area.

"When I acquired the Los Angeles Times, I took on all its operating and pension liabilities, about tens of millions of dollars. Now facing the impact of the financial crisis, it is understandable to deal with "major financial challenges" with large-scale layoffs. After all, the whole world is doing this, but John, you can rest assured that I will not move the staff in the newsroom. I know very well what I am doing!"

Hearing John Carroll's words, Andy just smiled faintly, looked at the other party and said, while giving a basis for making everyone present speechless.

Indeed, layoffs have become commonplace in this troubled industry. At the turn of the century, the U.S. newspaper industry hired 424,900 journalists. By mid-2009, that number had been cut by almost half, with only 283,200 journalists working in newspapers. While digital news media is growing, the number of journalists they hire is far from filling the gap.

For the media, this is the best and worst era. Digitalization makes everything a medium, and artificial intelligence technology is also integrating with traditional media expressions, and has accelerated the reshuffle of the media industry. At present, "will machines replace text practitioners" have become the focus of the industry. All this not only causes thousands of journalists to lose their jobs, but also makes the public's situation worse.

As for "saving money", layoffs are undoubtedly one of the most direct, easiest to take effect, and most commonly used methods. Another method is to make a fuss about salary, such as salary cuts, suspensions, unpaid leave, etc.

The above methods are decisions that no one is willing to implement for the Los Angeles Times. Before, the newspapers were indeed a little arrogant because they had a wealthy boss as a backing, thinking that they could avoid being cut off like other newspapers in financial difficulties.

However, no one expected that because of a simple investigation, the union was carried away by the boss, and those employees who were more willing to believe in the union would be really going to be cleansed this time, but they didn’t know whether the union could withstand the strong crushing of the young boss!

"Boss, I propose to significantly increase the number of external writers in the digital department to form a "Los Angeles Times Network" with more information sources. At the same time, I suggest that the current editorial department of the Los Angeles Times focuses on newspapers, and then combine other partnerships and submissions of the parent company Smith Media Group to expand news websites, apps, and social media content.

Once this plan is implemented, the biggest change is to establish the Los Angeles Times Network, composed of external writers, to achieve a long-term operational model that provides broader and more in-depth reporting without affecting expenditures.”

Bieber Angel, the chief business development officer of the electronic version of the Los Angeles Times, suddenly suggested to Andy, as if he wanted to use a new topic to transfer the tense atmosphere in the conference room. However, as his proposal came out, the originally silent people in the conference room immediately spoke out one by one questioning and opposing, which was more unacceptable than layoffs.

“Recruiting external writers to write can damage the brand image, devalue news, and betray readers…”

"We must not publish news that has no deep value at all, they are not even worth the news!"...

"Your plan will trigger a strong backlash from the union... They will ask the newspaper to give up the plan..."

"Ha! Interesting!"

Andy sneered, suddenly raised the volume, calmed the conference room again, ignored the gaze of the crowd, but looked around for a week and smiled: "It is to recruit external writers to join hands to cause a strong backlash from the union? Will it also damage the brand image, devalue the news, and betray readers?

What a shame, it's absolutely unforgivable!"

As he said, the management team present seemed to realize something, their faces suddenly turned pale, and they smiled bitterly. They knew that they were really trying to die this time, wasn’t this backfire?

Sure enough, Andy said coldly with a cold face: "This is my newspaper! Bieber, I agree with your plan, a very good idea!"

After saying that, Andy's eyes turned to the Los Angeles Times publisher and executive officer who had not spoken, and frowned slightly and said, "I'll leave the layoffs to you, and make a plan for me!"

"Okay, boss."

The other party nodded expressionlessly, and did not seem to reject his decision. Andy nodded slightly, then looked around again for a week and said coldly: "All the contents of this meeting are company secrets. Please keep it confidential. I don't want to hear any rumors. Next, we will wait for the result. I hope you don't make mistakes that embarrass everyone! Let's leave the meeting."

Looking at the backs of everyone leaving silently, Andy, who was still sitting on the chair, smiled with his lips, and his hand was constantly rotating with a pen, not knowing what he was thinking, until only he and Eddie Hattonstein were left in the conference room.

"This time, no matter who stands opposite us, get out of here!"

Eddie Hattonstein was shocked violently in his heart, looking at the young boss who was staring at him with a cold look. He opened his mouth, and finally replied bitterly: "I understand, boss."

"As it said, I don't need to eat my meal, but I scold me and oppose my employees. In that case, I might as well donate it to the homeless, at least they know how to thank me!"

As he said that, Andy stood up from the chair, walked to Eddie who was also standing up, stared at the other person, reached out and patted the other person on the shoulder, and said lightly: "The old ones don't go, the new ones don't come. More than 10,000 unemployed journalists are enough for you to choose. Don't worry, you can't mess up!"

It has already understood that his boss has raised his butcher knife and dug a hole, and is waiting for someone to jump in. It has already understood that his boss is really going to slap the entire newspaper, eliminate all the thorns, crack down on the trade union, and even disintegrate the influence of the trade union. Those reporters and editors who don’t know the truth will become the biggest victims.

Well, it's not considered a victim. If they don't make trouble with the union, this time, they will really kick the ball to the iron plate. The richest man in front of them can really spend money to kick off all the employees who are causing trouble in one go, making the union bleed!

The curtain has been opened, the pit has been dug, the net has been opened, and someone has jumped out onto the stage, fell into the pit, and was beaten up in one net...
Chapter completed!