The layoffs at StarMetro this week have me shaken. I have been a publicist for 12-ish years and the “media landscape” has been changing the entire time, but I want to help put it in perspective.

Let’s say you had a live show/artist to publicize in 2009 in Toronto. Not including CBC, you could pitch and most likely have a story in the following, without an ad buy:

With a live show/artist to publicize in 2019 in Toronto. You can pitch and try very, very hard to get a mention in:

"In the past decade 137 papers have folded, creating a 'new desert'" (from the Toronto Star in October 2018)

There are many online, trade and niche outlets that are not mentioned because every show/campaign is different. But please know that many of those online, trade and niche outlets are also gone or greatly diminished.

I have worked with many great producers, editors, hosts and writers over the years. Many of them have been laid off and forced out. They apologize for leaving. The ones that are left are still fighting for arts stories.

Freelancers not only fight for their space on the page, but that arts stories should exist at all. Then it take months to receive their payment.

I do not know what next steps are. But I am saying it is devastating, and it is hard. And we all deserve better. Journalist. Publicist. Artist. Reader. Listener. Viewer.