Hearst Corp. promised its newsrooms that there will be no layoffs, furloughs and pay cuts during the course of the pandemic coverage, reports Poynter.
In addition, CEO Steven Swartz has announced a 1 percent bonus to all employees.
Where other newspapers are cutting back, Hearst is using the situation to its advantage by providing readers with comprehensive local reports surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company is also planning on staking buys in some markets to promote the papers and their pandemic coverage.
As Rick Edmonds, Poynter’s media business analyst writes, “Hearst may be an outlier, not just in its action regarding newsrooms during the crisis but in the long game it plays generally. I would like to think, however, that Hearst’s bet pays off and inspires other deep-pocketed investors, individuals and companies, to see some business potential in the battered newspaper industry.”
