Newspapers throughout the Central Valley have been hit with substantial layoffs by the McClatchy Media Company, including the Sacramento Bee and the Fresno Bee. McClatchy was acquired out of bankruptcy by the hedge fund Chatham Asset Management in 2020. The firm is known for reorganizing companies by reducing the workforce. Part of this reduction involves increasing the use of artificial intelligence on McClatchy’s newspapers and digital platforms.
When the Fresno Bee was purchased by Chatham Asset Management, newspapers were in financial crisis across the country. But when the holding company acquired the legacy newspaper, it underscored its commitment to strong local journalism. Since then, the Bee has gone from a daily paper to three days a week, along with a digital platform. Joshua Tehee is a veteran Fresno Bee writer and a leader of the Bee News Guild, the paper’s union. He says the staff cuts are deep, up to 40%, and will hurt local reporting.
“Here in town, we lost an accountability reporter, we lost a civic watchdog reporter, a city hall reporter. We have a reporter that was covering Clovis. So it’s definitely going to be felt. And it’s one of those things that I think these positions, once they’re gone, it’s going to be very, very hard to get them back.”
Some of the Fresno Bee reporters who lost their jobs were award-winning investigative journalists who were breaking important stories. One report exposed dangerous working conditions at Mary’s poultry plant. Other stories shed light on immigration, deportation and detention centers. Local corruption was called out in one series. It has been complex, in-depth and detailed reporting, and some journalists are concerned that the company’s restructuring plan has not taken it into account and that artificial intelligence is playing a significant role in McClatchy’s layoff decisions. Tehee says there’s reason for trepidation but explains that it is an oversimplification to conclude that reporters will be directly replaced by AI agents.
“It is concerning that these cuts are coming at a time when the company has been asking us to delve into or rely on AI tools. Those of us who are left in the newsrooms are going to be asked to do more with less. And one of the ways the company sees AI tools is as a way to be more efficient in storytelling.”
For local residents, the Fresno Bee has been more than a local newspaper. It has become part of the social landscape. Tehee understands that the public’s questions and concerns about AI are legitimate, as are questions about the future of the Fresno Bee’s role in feeding the hunger for local news in the San Joaquin Valley. He describes how the digital world is changing the way news is consumed and how journalists do their work, hoping to maintain the legacy built by the newspaper.
“So, for us this is digital news. We are in the digital news realm, and everything for us is going to be online. We’re looking to put out stories that are robust in all elements with good visuals, all of it fitting together.”
Newspapers are changing. But Tehee affirms they’re still very much alive. The busy, bustling newsrooms of old are long gone. Reporters, editors and photographers may work remotely in the field or home office. But he says there are still face-to-face meetings and work sessions, and the eight reporters still on staff are working hard at reporting news to Fresno Bee readers.
“There are still employees at the Bee. This is a point I think that’s important to make. This is not a time to turn your back on local journalism. In fact, it’s a time to begin even further embracing local journalism because of the fact that it could go away. We may be getting close to an inflection point for that.”
The layoffs at the Fresno Bee aren’t happening in a vacuum. McClatchy newspapers across the nation suffered layoffs, including major papers like the Kansas City Star and the Miami Herald, whose reporting broke open the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
The Central Valley chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) issued a press release supporting the laid-off Bee reporters. The SPJ warned that the Valley will be worse off with fewer local journalists and cited studies showing residents living here know that the San Joaquin Valley is underserved for local news. SPJ has launched a fundraising campaign in support of laid-off journalists to help them get by. It is also urging California Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign Assembly Bill 2222, which would help strengthen local journalism in California. Newsom has until September 30 to sign or veto the bill.
