In the hyper-partisan jungle that is Utah and the United States today, "the media" has become "the enemy of the people" and journalists are paying the price with their jobs. And barely reported in Utah's mainstream media were the recent mass layoffs at KSL and Bonneville International.

Did anyone care?

"It's too bad," said Joel Campbell, communications professor at Brigham Young University. "It's the state of the industry. The business model for the industry has been broken for 20 years."

While that may be part of the reason behind these recent cuts, bubbling beneath the surface is a conviction that politics is at play.

City Cast Salt Lake was among the first to report the layoffs, "side-eyeing" an official statement from KSL blaming economic forces and technology advances.

Yeah, right. KSL, owned by Bonneville International—which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—is hardly hurting.

From what City Weekly can determine, dozens of staffers were laid off—at least five of whom were on-air personalities. They include Lindsay Aerts, Ashley Fredde, Lauren Steinbrecher, Dan Spindle, Hugo Rikard-Bell, Briana Chavez and Yvette Cruz.

City Cast Salt Lake named Aerts and Fredde, both of whom have covered areas of high political interest—Aerts at the Utah Legislature and Fredde on homelessness. Steinbrecher was an Emmy award-winning journalist who joined KSL in 2021. Spindle was a TV anchor and reporter.

"Friends ... family ... countrymen ... lend me your ears!" Spindle posted on Facebook. "For those who haven't heard already, I no longer work for KSL anchoring and reporting the news. The what, where, when, why and how will have to be a story for another time. I want everyone to know today that I'm overwhelmed with the love and support we've felt over the past few days."

Spindle continued: "Had I not been laid off, I'd have never known that so many incredible opportunities were available. I know that's what the temporarily unemployed are supposed to say but I've seen miracles this week. Our faith is unwavering! The work I've done for 5+ years is the strongest of my career and I'm excited for the next stage."

Since 2020, KSL has been in the crosshairs of Utah's senior senator, Mike Lee, who promoted the hashtag #SellKSL after what he perceived as unfair reporting on Donald Trump. Lee's constant harping against media outlets and journalists—including reporter Bryan Schott, who was recently terminated from The Salt Lake Tribune—has been bolstered by Republican electoral victories and an online blowtorch of bias accusations from the far-right.

But is KSL really too liberal, its content "woker than The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints itself tends to be," as City Cast put it?

The media industry is not only the subject of liberal-baiting, but it does have significant financial problems. In 2018, The Tribune laid off a third of its newsroom staff, not long after transitioning into a nonprofit organization. Like newspapers around the country, it suffered from advertising and subscriber revenue losses, compounded by the earlier ravages inflicted by its former owner, hedge fund Alden Global Capital.

"The Tribune was struggling, and things were looking bright with the new nonprofit model," Campbell said.

But the Poynter Institute for Media Studies counters that nonprofits are no panacea, especially with the fragmentation of the audience.

People are getting their information from social media—TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and, of course, the right-wing podcasts and networks that have become so popular.

"Over the years, we've seen a continuing shift in how readers are finding and engaging with The Tribune," said Lauren Gustus, the Trib's executive editor. "Increasingly, people are coming to us through social media platforms and search engines like Google. They are also reading, viewing or listening to Tribune stories on partner platforms, such as Apple News, YouTube and TikTok. This is all a trend shifting away from starting with our homepage."

Gustus continued: "It would be impossible for me to speak to what may happen regarding how many journalists will work here in Utah or anywhere else with any degree of certainty. I do think news organizations have to continue to adapt if we are to be relevant." 

What do you read, and how much do you pay for it? If you're getting content that's free, you may be leaving out real journalism and the people who make it happen.

The E.W. Scripps Company, which owns Fox 13, has experienced layoffs, as has the Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of KUTV. In 2010, the Deseret News took a 43% reduction in staff.

It's a bloody industry. Mis- and dis-information don't help, with public officials crying #fakenews. It speaks to the "deep, deep unreliability of the industry," City Cast said.

KSL employees, past and present, who spoke to City Weekly were stunned, nonetheless, and declined to comment on the record. While management may have been mulling the act for a while, it hit the newsroom unexpectedly, those employees said.

Trusted Voices
Word of layoffs at KSL first broke on November 13, when the media news website Ftvlive.com obtained the following internal email sent to staff by KSL General Manager Tanya Vea. KSL employees contacted by City Weekly independently verified this email.

Today is a difficult day for our company. Looking ahead to 2025 it became clear that we needed to adjust to the economic headwinds. As a result, we are restructuring staffing and expenses. 

Bonneville is a unique company, but we are not immune from the disruptions in our business and the economic forces at play. Technology is advancing at a rapid pace, which is impacting all industries, including ours. That, combined with economic pressures, led to changes in our financial outlook. 

As we learned during the Great Recession and, more recently, the pandemic, there are cycles to business. There are times when we dip down before picking back up again. Bonneville has done that successfully before and I am confident in our ability to do so again. 

The media industry is undergoing significant disruption in distribution, but the appetite for audio and video is as strong as ever. We have made investments in key growth areas and been intentional about making our content available across multiple platforms. Audiences and advertisers are moving between all of these, and we are focused on ensuring our brands move with them across the modern media ecosystem. Our connection to the audiences we serve is critical regardless of where they are consuming our content. 

While today is difficult, these steps are necessary to ensure Bonneville meets tomorrow's challenges. Preserving who we are and facing the realities of our business are not trade-offs. To be viable in the future, we must address the organization's financial health now. 

Bonneville has a history of success in large part because of our commitment to quality and a willingness to evolve. How we do things is changing, but why we do them is not. Our mission to be trusted voices, to build up, connect, inform, and celebrate the communities we serve remains strong. I am deeply grateful for the work and contributions of everyone at this company and am confident in our ability to transition to a successful future.