The sale of Scientific American and subsequent layoffs were motivated by fear of repercussions from the Trump administration due to the magazine's investigative reporting on science issues.

Scientific American workers who are members of the Writers Guild of America East put out a statement about the magazine's sale & firing of 15 employees: "We should call this action what it is – blatant union-busting. But there’s worse: we also have reason to believe that the sale was motivated by fear within Springer Nature that our attempts to doggedly report on the crisis facing science in America today would lead to repercussions from the Trump administration. On multiple occasions the company has sought to quash or tone down political or sensitive stories that were journalistically sound." #journalism #unions #USpol https://www.wgaeast.org/wgae-scientific-american-union-statement-on-springer-natures-sale-and-layoffs/

Scientific American writers who are members of the Writer's Guild on the sale to LabX Media Group and layoffs at the magazine, just before their union vote was going to be certified... "We should call this action what it is – blatant union-busting. But there’s worse: we also have reason to believe that the sale was motivated by fear within Springer Nature that our attempts to doggedly report on the crisis facing science in America today would lead to repercussions from the Trump administration. On multiple occasions the company has sought to quash or tone down political or sensitive stories that were journalistically sound." https://www.wgaeast.org/wgae-scientific-american-union-statement-on-springer-natures-sale-and-layoffs/ #labor #journalism #ScientificAmerican