Scripps News announced Friday that it plans to exit the 24/7 national news programming space. The outlet’s coverage will live on streaming and digital platforms with a Washington, D.C. based team providing national and international coverage for Scripps’ local stations. The changes will take effect after November 15, and will be accompanied by the loss of over 200 jobs.
Adam Symson, president and CEO of The E.W. Scripps Company, informed staffers about the networks’s future in a memo that was provided to TVNewser.
“Over the last two years, Scripps News’ live anchored coverage and documentary programming have grown its linear television audience,” Symson wrote. “But the prospects for the necessary revenue growth haven’t materialized, despite our sales teams’ efforts. Scripps News’ current financial position is what has led me to the decision to scale back our approach to 24-hour news and over-the-air coverage.”
In her own note to staff, Kate O’Brian, Scripps’ president of news, said that she would be among those leaving the company. “Each of you helped to build a news organization from the ground up that promised and delivered fair and objective journalism,” she wrote. “We set out to do this at a divisive time in our nation’s history and I believe that what you accomplished is undiminished by this devastating news today.”
The news comes two days after Scripps received a national news Emmy Award for its investigation into the water crisis in Flint, MI. And earlier this year, international correspondent Jason Belloni won multiple awards for his special reporting on the plight of Ukrainian orphans amidst their country’s ongoing war with Russia. The network also covered major events like CNN’s June 27 presidential debate and both of the summer’s major political conventions.
Symson noted those honors and achievements in his memo and emphasized that Scripps hasn’t abandoned its “commitment to journalism,” explaining that 50 staff members are expected to continue producing streaming and digital reports as well as content for the local stations. And he noted that the revenue challenges the company is experiencing aren’t unique to Scripps.
“Amidst an already difficult linear television advertising marketplace, many brands and agencies have decided that advertising around national news is just too risky for them given the polarized nature of this country,” he wrote. “I vehemently disagree, but it is hurting Scripps News, along with every other national linear and digital news outlet.”
Read Symson’s full memo and O’Brian’s note to staff below:
Employees:
I have some difficult and painful news to share with you about Scripps News. Our plans are still developing, but as rumors have spread this week, we felt we owed it to you to tell you what we could as soon as possible.