FACEBOOK AND GOOGLE TAKE HEAT AFTER MEDIA LAYOFFS

Critics are targeting Facebook and Google after a week of high-profile layoffs in the media industry, pointing to their dominance over internet ads as the reason news outlets are struggling.

BuzzFeed announced last week that it would be cutting 15 percent of its staff, including 43 journalists in its news division. The same day, HuffPost’s parent company Verizon said it’s planning to lay off 7 percent of its media division, which also includes Yahoo News. And Gannett, the local newspaper holding company that publishes USA Today, began a new round of cuts to its regional outlets.

Some are laying the blame with owners and hedge funds, while others say that the internet itself has made it harder to sustain a successful media outlet.

But many, including some high-profile Democratic lawmakers, are pointing to Facebook’s and Google’s power over the market for online ad revenue as the reason news outlets are struggling to establish a stable business model.

The two companies take in the majority of internet advertising revenue in the U.S. and critics say that the current state of affairs leaves little for newspapers hurt after years of declining print revenue.