I started my biz reporting career during the Great Recession, and I’ve spent the last decade covering small biz, high-growth startups and innovative corporate teams. So I’ve done a lot of coverage on layoffs, RIFs and firings. A lot are coming.

Journalists, here’s some advice 1/
Here @technical_ly our newsroom lives by a mantra that our reporting has to be Accurate, Relevant and ~Productive~

Non-journalists might be shocked to learn how controversial it is that we intend our journalism to do something, to make our community better.

It's crucial tho
We’ve been often challenged on how our reporting on layoffs fits as “Productive.” Two broad ways:

1 CEO can articulate why the layoffs had to come and has lessons for others
2 CEO can’t, or won’t, articulate why, or their reason is BS, full of blame and venom for others
First step for a reporter on layoffs is determine if this is a 1 or a 2. Did people’s professional careers get upended for some reason or unavoidable consequence? Or is this some kind of injustice.

Sharing lessons, or calling out BS is ~Productive~
Reporters who are unskilled, uninformed or otherwise inexperienced in this kind of reporting assume every CEO is in category 2 (they r evil!!!) and so their reporting is off from the very start.

That sours everything
To all reporters, I am here to tell you that there really are CEOs in category one.

To all CEOs and startup watchers, I am here to tell you that there are many CEOs who are, in fact, in category two. (So there is a reason why reporters are making sure you are not in 1)
I have interviewed CEOs whom I believed were having the worst day of their lives as they negatively impacted the lives of people they cared about. All are sympathetic. The most impressive of them could self-diagnose the causes and lessons.
I have also interviewed those who were clearly going through the motions. They took no responsibility, or were otherwise evasive, petulant or performative in their regret.
Every CEO of substance knows there are circumstances in which they are doing a RIF, or targeted layoffs. A lot of are going to use COVID-19 as an opportunity. It’s something to blame. Their business fundamentals could have already been flawed and this pandemic will be ~convenient
More complex still, not every CEO will actually always yet know if COVID really is the sole culprit, or just a speeding effect, or a convenient excuse.

I don’t actually think business reporters will be able to uncover all of that. Maybe we shouldn’t be expected to.
Every reporter should be able to answer this when reporting on layoffs:

-Does the CEO have a believable story of how it got to this?

-Does the CEO give a damn about the people whose lives she just changed?

-Does your view of that CEO grow or shrink because of how handled?
In short, remember that layoff stories are PEOPLE stories.

Lots of people’s lives have been changed. Sometimes that CEO, cofounder or executive is really struggling too.
Most generally, as always, fellow reporters, our job is to tell an accurate story that can teach others and serve as a first draft of history.

The historians and our communities need us.
You can follow @christopherwink.
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