New England Public Media, a public radio and television station based in Springfield, laid off 13% of its employees on Wednesday.
It's the station’s second round of layoffs since 2023, when it cut a fifth of its staff and eliminated its weekly public affairs television show “Connecting Point.”
Seven full and part-time employees were let go, including two members of the newsroom.
One of them was Tema Silk, the station’s part-time commentary editor. She said during the last round of layoffs, management made a commitment to keep the news department strong.
“ I know these are tough times, the managers have to deal with numbers. I get it,” Silk said. “But this is not a time you want to see news be weakened.”
New England Public Media President Matt Abramovitz did not respond to a request for comment. The organization released a statement about the cuts.
“NEPM is committed to providing award-winning news and conversation, high quality educational programming, music and more to the people of western Massachusetts — all for free,” read the statement. “Like many media companies, though, we are navigating through a challenging financial environment. Despite our fiscal discipline, expenses continue to outpace revenue.”
Roughly 14 of NEPM’s employees are represented by the Professional Staff Union at UMass Amherst, a holdover from when New England Public Radio operated as part of the university. (UMass still owns NEPM’s radio license.)
The two union members affected by the layoffs will be able to seek other employment at UMass Amherst as part of their contract.
NEPM’s news director, Sam Hudzik, described the loss of two news staffers as a “big hit” to his department, which is left with eight full-time employees after the cuts. Hudzik is a union-represented supervisor and did not have a say in who was let go. He plans to leave NEPM next month to pursue a career in law.
“Speaking as a member of the union that represents much of the news team and full-time radio staff, these layoffs will certainly impact NEPM’s ability to carry out its mission,” Hudzik said. “This will mean less in-depth reporting on important issues and institutions. It will mean fewer thoughtful commentaries from members of our community. And it will mean hard times for journalists and others who have worked tirelessly to serve NEPM and this region. I’m sad for our audience and heartbroken for my friends.”
The latest layoffs cap a challenging few years for NEPM, which formed when New England Public Radio and WGBY-TV, a subsidiary of GBH, combined operations in 2019. The station has shed 40% of its workforce since then.
Public records show NEPM has operated at a loss since 2020, when its deficit ballooned to $4.3 million. Its last set of financial filings, from 2023, show a loss of $2.3 million that fiscal year.
Other news organizations across the country have made cuts to their workforce amid declining advertising dollars and other financial challenges. CNN laid off 200 employees in January, and the AP cut 8% of its staff in November. Last year, NPR laid off 10% of its employees, while WBUR cut 14% of its staff, mostly through voluntary buyouts.
Silk identified the elimination of her job as part of a broader decline in news commentary. Without her, NEPM will have no staffer dedicated to producing opinion pieces for the radio or online.
“ I think that it's a dying thing,” Silk said. “ I think it's a real loss for communities to not have this other way of hearing from people in the community.”
She spoke highly of her colleagues at NEPM, but worried about the increased pressure the layoffs will place on the remaining journalists.
“ This is a newsroom full of rock stars, as far as I'm concerned,” Silk said. “But there are more and more demands on the newsroom.”
This story was reported by Amelia Mason at WBUR. It was edited by Roberto Scalese at WBUR. No NEPM staff or leadership had oversight or reviewed the story before publication.
