Scripps Cuts 431 Jobs but Promises More Than 100 New Ones

The E.W. Scripps Company completed 431 workforce reductions on Tuesday, bringing the total employees impacted in 2026 to about 850, nearly 20% of its headcount at the start of the year. In a memo to staff, chief executive Adam Symson said Scripps is creating over 100 new positions, including local reporting roles and new community connection roles. Layoff notices and buyout offers reached nearly all Scripps-owned stations across the country, employees told TheDesk, with technical and newscast production roles among those cut at stations such as WCPO-TV in Cincinnati. For Metaintro readers who work in local TV news, this guide covers which jobs went, what the new roles are, what federal law requires on notice and health cover, and where broadcast skills carry over.

What Exactly Did Scripps Announce This Week?

Scripps disclosed the cuts in a release dated Oct. 28, 2026, headed Scripps raises full-year political guide, completes 2026 workforce reductions. The reductions are part of Scripps’ company transformation plan to generate $125-$150 million of enterprise EBITDA growth by 2028.

The latest round on its own equals approximately 10% of Scripps' workforce before Tuesday's cuts, a share the company confirmed on Wednesday to TheWrap. The bigger figure counts the total employees impacted in 2026, not only this week.

Scripps expects to have implemented about $100 million in annual run-rate savings by year end, and the impact of the transformation work will become most evident beginning in the fourth-quarter results. Scripps will release its full third-quarter 2026 results after the market closes Thursday, Nov. 5.

Scripps also raised its forecast for full-year 2026 midterm Local Media political advertising revenue to about $275 million. Scripps also had $83 million in cash at the end of the third quarter and plans to pay down at least $150 million of debt in the fourth quarter.

Which Jobs Were Cut, and at Which Stations?

Layoff notices went to some non-union technical workers in information technology and broadcast engineering departments, while union-backed reporters, photographers and graphic designers received buyout offers instead of layoff notices because of terms found in their collective bargaining agreements, sources told TheDesk.

Markets named include Detroit, Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Denver, Phoenix and West Palm Beach, with Kansas City and Cleveland also among the stations that reportedly had staff reductions. Some stations also cut roles in engineering and marketing departments, people familiar with the matter told TheDesk, and some producers at stations that adopted the Stacker process received buyout offers on Tuesday.

In Cincinnati, WCPO-TV eliminated half of its 12-person photo staff and two producers, multiple sources told WVXU's John Kiesewetter, plus some assignment editors, a video editor, engineers and other employees, for a total ranging from 11 to 16 people. Unlike other Cincinnati TV stations, WCPO-TV photographers are not union members.

The affected WCPO roles are primarily tied to traditional newscast production, a Scripps spokesperson explained, and live newscasts will continue as the station moves to workflows where journalists update stories throughout the day across broadcast, streaming, digital and social platforms, with technology and automation helping enable those workflows.

What Are the More Than 100 New Roles?

The new posts, local reporting roles and new community connection roles, are meant, in Symson's memo, to produce more reporting from the field and deepen Scripps' community reach and expand its local journalism to audiences across broadcast, streaming and digital platforms.

Scripps is creating the positions across its local newsrooms, with the aim of keeping viewers connected to local news throughout the day, not only at scheduled broadcast times.

Scripps has not disclosed how many of the new roles will open to outside applicants, what they pay, or which stations get them.

I recognize it can be difficult to see positions eliminated while we are also creating new roles, Scripps president and CEO Adam Symson wrote in his memo to staff, according to TheDesk's copy of the memo.

Why Is Scripps Cutting, and What Role Does AI Play?

By August, Scripps was already pursuing its transformation plan and expense reductions through cost savings and revenue initiatives, changes that, in Symson's words, leverage today’s most advanced technology, AI and automation.

On the August earnings call, Symson went further, describing a company leaning into AI, automation, technology and the centralization of some roles with the aim of turning its local station group into a technology-forward, AI-powered broadcast journalism company moving toward a 24-hour streaming news model.

Second-quarter company revenue was $490 million, a decrease of 9.2% from the prior-year quarter, and Scripps Networks revenue was down 16% from Q2 2025, partly because of a decline in legacy linear viewing and the resulting shift in advertiser spending to streaming and digital.

Many Scripps stations have switched to a technique called Stacker, where newsroom managers assemble recorded news segments into a 30-minute or 60-minute newscast, and one producer complained that the process introduced significant errors into the workflow. Cincinnati viewers should not be surprised to see more reporters shooting iPhone videos for their stories, in the view of WVXU media columnist John Kiesewetter.

How Does This Round Compare With the Earlier Cuts This Year?

This is the third round of budget cuts in four months. In August, Symson confirmed pink slips were sent to 268 workers in Scripps' August job cuts, and those reductions affected about 6% of the workforce.

Two August counts can look like they clash. Scripps had eliminated 432 positions and 126 open roles since the beginning of the year by the August earnings call, a year-to-date total that already included the August round. That is why the 432 positions figure is larger than the 268 workers who got pink slips in August. The units also differ, so the counts should not be added up: Scripps counted positions on the August call and total employees impacted in 2026 in the October release.

The cuts come seven weeks after Scripps let go Jeff Brogan, WCPO-TV vice president and general manager, in a local leadership restructuring. Scripps also replaced individual TV station general managers with 11 regional managers, and seven TV general managers were among the 27 jobs eliminated Sept. 9.

Are More Scripps Layoffs Coming?

Symson's memo expects additional role eliminations across the company, but not at the scale of those in 2026, and it states that the majority of the significant restructuring needed for Scripps' future operating model has now taken place, especially in its local newsrooms. For the coming year, the memo turns Scripps' focus to growing audiences across its local stations and national networks and building up new company revenue streams.

Many producers fear their jobs could be on the chopping block in the coming weeks and months as more stations adopt the Stacker technique.

We aim to fill as many of these new roles as possible with colleagues whose positions have been affected, Scripps president and CEO Adam Symson wrote, according to TheWrap's report on Yahoo Finance.

What Does Federal Law Say About Notice Before Layoffs?

The federal rule is the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. It counts job losses at a single site of employment, so whether it applies depends on how many people lose jobs at each location. For this round, the precise number of cuts across Scripps’ local stations was unknown in early accounts.

Under the law, an employer shall not order a plant closing or mass layoff until the end of a 60-day period after it serves written notice on each representative of the affected employees, or on each affected employee where there is no representative. Notice must also go to the State or entity designated by the State to carry out rapid response activities and to the chief elected official of the unit of local government where the closing or layoff is to occur. If there is more than one such unit, notice goes to the unit of local government to which the employer pays the highest taxes for the year before the year for which the determination is made.

The law allows shorter notice, or none, in three cases. A single site can shut before the 60 days end if, as of the time notice would have been required, the employer was actively seeking capital or business which, if obtained, would have enabled it to avoid or postpone the shutdown, and the employer reasonably and in good faith believed that giving the required notice would have precluded it from obtaining the needed capital or business. A closing or mass layoff can also come early when caused by business circumstances that were not reasonably foreseeable as of the time that notice would have been required, and no notice is needed for one due to any form of natural disaster. An employer using these exceptions must give as much notice as is practicable and state the basis for the shorter period.

The law covers an employer with 100 or more employees, excluding part-time employees, or with 100 or more employees who in the aggregate work at least 4,000 hours a week, not counting overtime. A mass layoff is a reduction in force that is not the result of a plant closing and causes job losses at a single site during any 30-day period for at least 33 percent of the employees and at least 50 employees, or for at least 500 employees, excluding part-time staff in both cases.

Under the statute, an employment loss means (A) an employment termination other than a discharge for cause, voluntary departure, or retirement, (B) a layoff exceeding 6 months, or (C) a reduction in hours of work of more than 50 percent during each month of any 6-month period. There is an exclusion: when a closing or layoff results from the relocation or consolidation of part or all of the employer’s business, there is no employment loss if, beforehand, the employer offers a transfer to a site within a reasonable commuting distance with no more than a 6-month break in employment, or to any other site with no more than a 6-month break and the employee accepts within 30 days of the offer or of the closing or layoff, whichever is later.

Job losses for 2 or more groups at a single site of employment, each below the minimum, count as a plant closing or mass layoff when, in the aggregate, they exceed that minimum number and occur within any 90-day period, unless the employer shows the losses come from separate and distinct actions and causes and are not an attempt to evade the law.

What Happens to Health Insurance After a Layoff or Buyout?

Where an employer's group health plan offers continuation coverage under the federal COBRA rules, the statute sets a general rule for terminations and reduced hours: except in the case of a second qualifying event, the maximum required coverage period runs to the date which is 18 months after the date of the qualifying event. If another qualifying event, other than one relating to bankruptcy proceedings, occurs during those 18 months, it runs to the date which is 36 months after the date of the qualifying event of the job loss or cut in hours. That becomes 29 months, for all qualified beneficiaries, when a qualified beneficiary is determined under title II or XVI of the Social Security Act to have been disabled at any time during the first 60 days of continuation coverage, but only if the beneficiary gives notice of that determination before the 18 months end.

Coverage can stop earlier. It ends on the date on which the employer ceases to provide any group health plan to any employee, when coverage ceases because of a failure to make timely payment of any premium, or when the person later becomes covered under any other group health plan without a preexisting-condition limit. A premium counts as timely if paid within 30 days after the date due or any longer period the plan allows.

The plan can charge a premium that shall not exceed 102 percent of the applicable premium for such period, and it can be paid in monthly installments. For the disability extension, 102 percent is deemed a reference to 150 percent for any month after the 18th. The plan cannot require any premium before the day which is 45 days after the day on which the qualified beneficiary made the initial election.

The election period is of at least 60 days’ duration and ends no earlier than 60 days after the later of the date coverage ends or, for a beneficiary who receives the required COBRA notice, the date of that notice.

Where Can Laid-Off Broadcast Workers Look Next?

Federal occupation data from O*NET shows what the main affected groups earn and how many openings are projected. These are national figures, not Scripps pay.

• Reporters and journalists. The median wage in 2025 was $29.91 hourly, $62,200 annual, across 47,100 employees. O*NET labels projected growth for 2025 to 2035 as Decline (-1% or lower), with 3,400 projected job openings. Titles in this group include Multimedia Journalist, News Reporter and TV News Reporter.
• Broadcast technicians and engineers. The median wage in 2025 was $28.64 hourly, $59,570 annual, for 24,100 employees, with 1,600 projected job openings over the same span. Typical titles include Broadcast Engineer, Broadcast Maintenance Engineer and Broadcast Systems Support Engineer.
• Camera operators (television, video and film). The median wage in 2025 was $36.05 hourly, $74,990 annual, with 32,600 employees and growth projected as slower than average (1% to 2%). Titles include News Videographer, Television News Photographer and Master Control Operator.

Broadcast technicians set up, operate, and maintain broadcast station computers and networks, and camera operators compose and frame each shot, applying the technical aspects of light, lenses, film, filters, and camera settings.

What This Means for Local TV Workers, and What Should You Do Next?

Our read of this week is that Scripps is shrinking newsroom production and technical staff while adding new local newsroom and community connection posts. The WCPO cuts were primarily tied to traditional newscast production, and the new workflows support more local reporting from the field. If your job was building a scheduled newscast, note that Scripps wants to keep viewers connected to local news throughout the day, not only at scheduled broadcast times.

• If your role was affected, ask about the new roles first. Leaders have been meeting with affected teams, so ask them which of the more than 100 new roles you can apply for.
• Know the health cover deadline. Keep the date your coverage ends and the date of any COBRA notice you receive, since the election period above is measured from the later of the two.
• Search by skill, not only by TV title. Compare any offer with the national medians above for news photographers and camera operators and broadcast technicians before you accept a lower rate, and use the steps in How to Job Search With AI After a Layoff to match those skills to new titles.

Lacey Kaelani, Metaintro's CEO, puts it this way: A smaller newsroom does not mean smaller skills. The people who shot the video, cut the package and kept the signal on air can take that work to any team that tells stories on camera.

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People Also Asked

Q: How many jobs did Scripps cut this week?

A: Scripps completed 431 workforce reductions on Tuesday, which brings the employees affected by cuts in 2026 to about 850.

Q: What new jobs is Scripps creating?

A: CEO Adam Symson told staff Scripps is creating over 100 new positions, including local reporting roles and new community connection roles, and aims to fill as many as possible with staff whose jobs were affected.

Q: Which Scripps workers were laid off?

A: Layoff notices went to some non-union technical workers in information technology and broadcast engineering departments, while union reporters, photographers and graphic designers were offered buyouts, sources told TheDesk.

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