AP cuts – The Associated Press laid off 20 U.S.-based journalists in cuts meant to restructure its newsroom desk around a proposed pivot away from print and toward visual news, a move the AP News Guild sharply criticized as directionless.
The Associated Press moved to restructure its U.S. newsroom desk on Friday, laying off 20 U.S.-based journalists as it pivots away from print and toward visual news.
Patrick Maks. an AP spokesman and director of media relations and corporate communications. said the layoffs were part of a broader plan announced last month.. “This is part of the restructuring we announced last month to align our operations with what our top customers need from us today. ” he said in a statement.. He added. “It’s never easy to part ways with valued colleagues — we are appreciative of their contributions to the AP and wish them all the best.”
Those numbers were later shared by the AP News Guild on X. where the union slammed the cuts as evidence of what it called “just how directionless AP leadership has become.” The guild said the layoffs included “U.S.. news. photographers. investigations. business and sports across 12 states.” In the union’s telling. the staffing changes were especially stinging because AP has. it argued. “found plenty of resources to outsource video production jobs to India. away from video staff in the U.S.. and elsewhere.”
Friday’s cuts landed about a month after the legacy news organization proposed downsizing and offered buyouts to more than 120 journalists working in the United States.. AP News and its guild said about 40 accepted the offer. and additional layoffs were expected—though leadership had not formally announced them until Friday morning. based on members of the guild.
Guild leadership also weighed in on the visual-journalism narrative.. Kimberlee Kruesi. the guild’s acting president. said in a statement. “Today’s cuts show just how directionless AP’s leadership has become.” She added that while the company “touts that it is prioritizing visual journalism. ” among the 20 employees sacked were “experienced photographers.”
The union’s criticism follows remarks AP executive leadership made when the buyout plans first surfaced.. AP’s executive editor and SVP Julie Pace. pictured in the coverage of those earlier comments. told an interview audience that AP’s goal was to reduce staff by less than 5%. in part to better reflect the contemporary news business.. “We’re not a newspaper company and we haven’t been for quite some time. ” Pace said at the time. later adding: “The AP is not in trouble.. We’re making these changes from a position of strength but we’re doing so now to recognize our changing customer base.”
The pattern is built into the timeline: AP pointed to a restructuring plan announced last month. offered buyouts to more than 120 journalists with about 40 accepting. and then carried out Friday’s additional layoffs—while the guild highlighted that those cuts affected “photographers” even as leadership frames the changes around prioritizing “visual journalism.”
Associated Press AP News layoffs 20 journalists US-based journalists AP News Guild visual journalism print pivot Patrick Maks Julie Pace Kimberlee Kruesi buyouts