The Teen Vogue Layoffs is the Darkest Time in Journalism

Earlier this week, Condé Nast announced that Teen Vogue will fold into Vogue. With Teen Vogue merging into Vogue, positions had been eliminated, and Teen Vogue's political section had been dissolved. Many journalists had come to LinkedIn and X, formerly Twitter, to announce that they had been laid off from Teen Vogue at an alarming rate: a lot of these journalists who had been laid off are mainly Black women and LGBTQ+ members.

Condé Nast had been criticised in the past for its questionable decisions regarding the state of journalism. In November 2023, Condé Nast's CEO announced that he was laying off 300 staff members, with layoffs affecting magazines including The layoffs have come as a blow to several Condé Nast magazines, including Vanity Fair, Pitchfork, Sports Illustrated, GQ, Vogue, Architectural Digest, Bon Appétit, and The New Yorker. The CEO, Roger Lynch, said in the statement:

These reductions will take place over the next few months and total approximately 5 per cent of all staff roles. There is no easy way to share this news.

With the state of journalism already going downhill, the Teen Vogue layoffs marked a tragic day in journalism. The world cannot spin without news and stories that matter, and a lot of talented journalists who are responsible for these stories are being laid off. According to NewsGuild's statement regarding the layoffs, "Nearly all of these staffers identify as LGBTQ. As of today, only one woman of color remains on the editorial staff at Teen Vogue."

Without Teen Vogue, LGBTQ+ and BIPOC Journalists, The Future of Journalism Looks Bleak

In journalism, we need diverse voices to tell diverse stories and platform voices that matter. However, this is hard when diversity is being pushed out of the newsroom. Many BIPOC women and LGBTQ+ journalists have been laid off from Teen Vogue, leaving them without a major platform for their voices to be heard. A lot of queer journalists are also being pushed out of social media with the new META policy changes that are allowing hate speech.

Journalists have turned to freelance journalism and projects after layoffs, but even freelance journalism does not provide as much security and promise as it did previously. Pitches are falling on deaf ears due to the changing media landscape and limited budgets, and other publications are being dissolved into huge media companies that pay freelance journalists pennies. However, many journalists, especially BIPOC and LGBTQ+ journalists, will not let journalism die.

The presence of marginalised journalists alone fights injustice, hatred, and bigotry and also challenges their readers with thought-provoking stories that are based on their personal experiences. With the crackdown on DEI programs in the USA and rising hatred against marginalised groups online and in real life, marginalised readers need their representation now more than ever. However, layoffs at major institutions, including Teen Vogue, that affect BIPOC and LGBTQ+ journalists are suppressing their voice and their reach.

Teen Vogue's Merge into Vogue Will Affect Younger Readers

Platforms like the BBC and Cosmopolitan serve the young readers, but it was Teen Vogue that took them seriously. It was Teen Vogue's politics section (that is now being dissolved) that was unafraid to tell the real story to their younger audience and educated them on worldwide issues. With Teen Vogue, younger readers were empowered by knowledge, thanks to Teen Vogue's thorough coverage of real-world issues.

Teen Vogue's merger into Vogue without politics coverage will now put the younger readers in dismay. Without Teen Vogue's coverage of political and societal issues, the younger readers will have limited resources and coverage on issues that matter. Many publications have a young readership, but Teen Vogue had a strong focus on connecting with the younger readers, making it more trustworthy than a lot of publications.

With the state of the world today – fascism, Donald Trump, misinformation, AI, and more – politics coverage is more important than ever, especially for the young audience who are looking to get a substantial understanding of what is going on in the world. The elimination of the politics section and its editor, especially right before the mayoral elections, is a huge stab in the back for the younger readers. This showed that the younger readers are abandoned and left at a disadvantage: if the outlets that focused on connecting with the younger readers are no longer there for them, who will be?

A New Generation of Journalists May Go Unheard Thanks to Teen Vogue's Merger

Many journalists turned to X, formerly Twitter, to express their sadness over the merger. Teen Vogue is meaningful to many of them, as it was a lot of their first byline that was the stepping stone in their career as journalists. Teen Vogue is responsible for a lot of the journalists we have today, because it gave these journalists a chance and a platform to tell their stories.

Teen Vogue's merger into Vogue is not only silencing the journalists who have been laid off, but also the journalists who are undergrads awaiting their first byline or have not had a pitch placed yet. Because of the merge, a lot of beginner journalists will have more challenges getting their first byline. The current landscape of journalism makes it hard for journalists to have their pitches placed.

The death of Teen Vogue leaves aspiring young writers at a disadvantage. Without Teen Vogue, they do not have many outlets to place stories, not just about politics, but also about pop and internet culture. Teen Vogue was one of the main places that was integral to journalists starting out.

Teen Vogue Will Be Deeply Missed

With Teen Vogue folding into Vogue and the VIBE and Rolling Stone merger, many journalists are given the short end of the stick, and more BIPOC and LGBTQ+ journalists are being left out of newsrooms. Talented journalists are being left without jobs and having to seek freelance writing, which is already unstable as it is. And on top of that, the Teen Vogue merger is also putting younger readers at a disadvantage, as they are left with publications that do not connect with them as well as Teen Vogue did.

The decision is final, so there is only one thing left to do. Support laid-off journalists. Celebrate journalism that aspires to create integral changes. Donate to laid-off journalists here. Never stop reading, and never stop writing.