E.W. Scripps has eliminated 432 positions and 126 open roles since the start of the year, cutting 12% of its workforce as it restructures local news operations around automation.
CEO Adam Symson laid out the numbers on the company’s second-quarter earnings call this Thursday, saying Scripps intends to become an “AI-powered broadcast journalism company,” according to TheWrap.
The cuts have landed hardest at local stations. Of the total, 268 layoffs were disclosed earlier this week, most affecting employees at Scripps’ local television outlets.
“We’re leaning into AI, automation, technology and the centralization of some roles,” Symson said, describing the changes as a fundamental shift in how Scripps produces local news.
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The financial case for the cuts is straightforward. Scripps expects the restructuring to generate $100 million in annualized savings. Its broader transformation plan is projected to increase EBITDA by $125 million to $150 million by 2028 through a combination of cost reductions and revenue growth. Symson also said the company is moving toward a 24-hour streaming news model.
Scripps’ second-quarter results were weak. Revenue fell 9% to $490.4 million, and the company reported a net loss of 34 cents per share. But investors welcomed its cost-cutting plans, sending shares up more than 20% in midday trading Friday.
Symson acknowledged the human cost. He called the process “painful” and “full of difficult decisions,” while arguing that the changes were necessary for the company’s financial health.
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“We are not wavering on our commitment to quality journalism,” he said.
Local television has faced years of pressure from cord-cutting, shifting viewing habits and declining advertising revenue. Pew Research Center data has documented flat-to-declining revenue and audiences for local TV news over much of the past decade.
Automation and centralized production can help a station group cut costs. But they can also reduce the number of people reporting, producing and verifying the news that makes it to air.
Scripps described the overhaul as a “revolution” but has not disclosed which newsroom functions it plans to automate with AI. The company has yet to say whether the technology will be limited to tasks such as scheduling, captioning and playout or extend to editorial work such as writing scripts, selecting stories and producing broadcasts.
For other broadcasters, Scripps is becoming a test case for whether a station group can make deep cuts and still maintain the quality and breadth of its local journalism.
If Scripps delivers the promised savings without visible declines in accuracy or local coverage, other broadcasters facing similar financial pressure may follow. If coverage suffers, the company’s AI strategy could look less like a transformation of local journalism and more like a rationale for reducing costs.
Scripps, which also owns the ION broadcast network, expects the transformation to continue through 2028. The next several earnings calls will offer a clearer test of whether an “AI-powered” newsroom can deliver the financial gains the company has promised without weakening the journalism that remains.
