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GBH lays off 15 employees in fourth wave of cuts this year
So far, close to 70 employees at GBH have seen their positions eliminated this year.
Another round of layoffs hit GBH this week, as the public media organization struggles to weather significant financial headwinds.
Fifteen employees were told that their positions were being eliminated, according to a statement from President and CEO Susan Goldberg. She cited the loss of federal funding and said that staff numbers were being reduced “as contracts and seasons end.”
Some of the employees will be departing immediately, while others will stay on until December or January, Goldberg said. She did not share specifics, but said that the people being laid off included those working on “content projects” and staff in “supporting back-office roles” like the marketing, finance, and IT departments.
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“We’re grateful for their work and for the support of our entire staff as we reimagine our work to meet this unprecedented moment,” Goldberg said.
All told, close to 70 GBH employees have been laid off this year. In May, 10 staff members from the company’s WORLD Channel were let go. A major round of layoffs came in June, when 45 employees were affected. The following month, 13 more employees were laid off.
GBH, the largest producer of PBS programming nationwide, relied on federal dollars for about 8% of its annual revenue. But smaller stations with more reliance on federal funding pay GBH to air some radio and TV programs, meaning that GBH could be losing significant revenue from those sources.
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On Oct. 1, the day federal funding expired, GBH launched a major new fundraising campaign. It seeks to capitalize on discontent with federal funding cuts in order to raise $225 million over the next three years.
President Donald Trump has called NPR and PBS “monsters” and put pressure on Congress to eliminate funding. Lawmakers eventually killed funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit that facilitated the federal funding of NPR and PBS. The majority of CPB staff positions were eliminated earlier this fall, and it will officially shut down in January.
Even before the Trump administration took power, GBH was experiencing significant turbulence. Last year, 31 employees were laid off in a move that Goldberg attributed to flat revenues and the increasing cost of doing business.
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