CONTACT:
Alison Bethel McKenzie, SPJ Executive Director, 317-920-4780, abmckenzie@spj.org
Isaac Taylor, SPJ Communications Coordinator, 317-920-4785, itaylor@spj.org

INDIANAPOLIS – The Society of Professional Journalists launched this week a web page with resources to help journalists facing buyouts and layoffs.

“2018 was an especially difficult year for the news industry and we are deeply concerned about the continued layoffs and buyouts happening in journalism,” said SPJ Executive Director Alison Bethel McKenzie. “As the nation’s oldest professional journalism organization, we stand with all journalists during these trying times. We admire and appreciate the vigilance it takes to pursue truth in the current climate.”

Offering resources – including a reprieve from paying membership dues for journalists who have been laid off – is a small way SPJ can show journalists we support them, Bethel McKenzie added.

Membership fees can be waived for six months, job postings can be viewed on SPJ’s Career Center and a LinkedIn Group - Journalists Helping Journalists, has been created as a platform for industry professionals to lend a hand to each other.

For detailed information, go to spj.org.

“We also take this opportunity to remind every American that journalism is a proud and noble profession that provides a voice to the voiceless, acts as a watchdog to powerful entities and maintains a balanced democracy,” Bethel McKenzie said.

Learn how you can help SPJ support the nation’s journalists.

SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to informing citizens; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and fights to protect First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press. Support excellent journalism and fight for your right to know. Become a member, give to the Legal Defense Fund, or give to the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation.

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