Vice Media outlines ‘painful but necessary’ cuts to staff and programming, as ‘Vice News Tonight’ axed

LR: Bruce Dixon & Hozefa Lokhandwala

Vice Media has unveiled a raft of “painful but necessary” cuts to staff and programming, with flagship show Vice News Tonight being axed.

The company is cutting around 100 staff members, with Vice’s news teams taking much of the impact.

Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala, who were appointed co-CEO’s at Vice after Nancy Dubuc stepped down in February, said the cuts were being made in light of “business realities.”

“In response to the current market conditions and business realities facing [Vice Media] and the broader news and media industry, we are moving forward on some painful but necessary reductions, primarily across our news business,” they wrote in a staff memo.

The duo emphasised that news remained “core” to the company’ operations, but said they would be “transforming” the division “to better withstand market realities and more closely align with how and where we see our audiences engaging with our content most.”

Vice World News is to be ended and will now fall under the broader Vice News, while audio and short form video teams are also being cut.

Vice News Tonight will end 25 May, having recently marked its 1,000th episode.

The youth-skewing firm, which is looking for investment, has also been shifting its operations internationally, closing linear networks and its operations in France, as well as pushing into FAST news channels, as revealed by TBI.