The union representing writers at Teen Vogue is slamming the youth-focused publication’s merger with the Vogue website and raising concerns about impacts on staff diversity and political coverage.
In a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter on Monday, Condé United and parent union The NewsGuild of New York said they “strongly condemn Condé Nast’s consolidation plans for Teen Vogue.” The labor groups claim the move was “clearly designed to blunt the award-winning magazine’s insightful journalism at a time when it is needed the most.”
Vogue announced that the 22-year-old brand would be folded into the flagship brand’s website on Monday. Though the title is set to continue as a “distinct editorial property,” the magazine’s current editor-in-chief Versha Sharma is leaving the company and Vogue head of editorial content Chloe Malle will take the reins.
In a statement, Malle said she was dedicated to “continuing and supporting its point of view and sensibility.” The announcement added that, on Vogue.com, Teen Vogue will focus on “career development, cultural leadership and other issues that matter most to young people.”
The newsroom union claims the change is throttling staff diversity and muting the magazine’s progressive political bent.
“Management plans to lay off six of our members, most of whom are BIPOC women or trans, including Teen Vogue’s Politics Editor — continuing the trend of layoffs at Condé disproportionately impacting marginalized employees,” the organizations stated. They added, “Teen Vogue now has no writers or editors explicitly covering politics.”
The groups continued, “As of today, only one woman of color remains on the editorial staff at Teen Vogue.”
Established in 2003, Teen Vogue began as a fashion- and celebrity-focused publication under the direction of former Vogue beauty director Amy Astley. Its first cover star was Gwen Stefani, followed by Beyoncé one month later. The clothes on display weren’t all couture, but they did represent an aspirational lifestyle: It was common to see individual items priced at hundreds of dollars, from Prada subsidiary Miu Miu or French luxury label A.P.C., on the magazine’s pages.
The magazine’s focus took a turn under the leadership of former editor Elaine Welteroth, who was named editor-in-chief in 2016. The publication amped up its coverage of politics, immigration, labor and climate change. Even after Teen Vogue ceased print publication in 2017 and Welteroth departed a year later, its site kept jumping into the fray on President Donald Trump, the war in Gaza, even progressive New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
In their statement, Condé United and the NewsGuild of New York vowed to get more clarity on Teen Vogue’s trajectory moving forward.
“Condé leadership owes us answers – and Teen Vogue’s readership. We will get those answers,” they said. “And we fight for our rights as workers with a collective bargaining agreement as we fight for the work we do, and the people we do it for.”
Read the union’s full statement below.
The NewsGuild of New York and Condé United strongly condemn Condé Nast’s consolidation plans for Teen Vogue, a move that is clearly designed to blunt the award-winning magazine’s insightful journalism at a time when it is needed the most.
Management plans to lay off six of our members, most of whom are BIPOC women or trans, including Teen Vogue’s Politics Editor — continuing the trend of layoffs at Condé disproportionately impacting marginalized employees.
In its announcement today, Condé management said as a “dedicated pillar” on Vogue, Teen Vogue will “focus its content on career development, cultural leadership and other issues that matter most to young people, according to the publication.” Teen Vogue now has no writers or editors explicitly covering politics.
There was no mention in the announcement of the coverage that has earned Teen Vogue massive readership and wide praise from across the journalism industry. Gone is the political-cultural criticism of the fashion and culture industries by the Black women writers laid off today. Gone are the incisive and artful depictions of young people from the Asian and Latina women photographers laid off today. Gone, from the lauded politics section, is the work that made possible the blockbuster cover of Vivian Wilson, one of Condé Nast’s top performing stories of the year, coordinated by the singular trans staffer laid off today. Nearly all of these staffers identify as LGBTQ. As of today, only one woman of color remains on the editorial staff at Teen Vogue.
Condé leadership owes us answers – and Teen Vogue’s readership. We will get those answers.
And we fight for our rights as workers with a collective bargaining agreement as we fight for the work we do, and the people we do it for.
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