For the past few years, layoffs and buyouts have been as much a part of the media business as ink-stained fingers. But at the beginning of 2011, the Pew Research Center’s annual State of the News Media offered a cautiously optimistic picture of an industry in recovery after the bleak, layoff-heavy years of 2008 and 2009.
Unfortunately, mass layoffs weren’t lacking in 2011, as illustrated by cuts at large-scale media chains such as Gannett Co. Inc. and Village Voice Media. No organization comprehensively tracks New Mexico’s media layoffs, but according to SFR’s unscientific analysis, the local media picture may be healthier than the national media landscape. Disclaimer: This brief timeline of comparison for 2011 locally and national media is by no means comprehensive.