May 12, 2025
Fictional Headlines Didn’t Tell the Real LightFair Story
Commentary by Al Uszynski
EdisonReport distorted old news, casting Acuity in a LightFair drama that never existed
At LightFair 2025, the real buzz wasn’t about who lost their job. It was LightFair itself, and what comes next.
Conversations across the Las Vegas Convention Center floor didn’t dwell in the past. They centered on the present and future: what’s broken, what’s worth saving, and what must change by LightFair 2027. But if you weren’t among the attendees — if you were instead relying on a certain trade publication blasting a police siren to declare that Acuity’s April layoffs were the "unfortunate buzz" of LightFair — you’d have been fed a fiction.
And that matters. Because when lighting people across the industry can’t attend LightFair themselves, they turn to trade media to tell them what actually happened — to give them clarity, not caricature.
Above: EdisonReport’s opening paragraph claims that news of Acuity’s weeks-old layoffs “surfaced” during LightFair and became “a major talking point” at the event.
What EdisonReport published on May 8 wasn't just misleading. It was clickbait masquerading as journalism. And it wasn't the first time.
Layoffs & Headline Hyperbole
In 2020, EdisonReport ran a headline “Bloody Monday: Massive Layoffs Occurring Today at Hubbell Lighting.” It was a crass framing of real people losing real jobs — and it sparked backlash that led to EdisonReport rewriting the headline. But the lesson didn’t stick. EdisonReport's coverage continues to exploit layoffs for attention-grabbing headlines, treating job loss as clickbait rather than a moment demanding sensitivity and care.
This time, it came in the form of a May 8 article titled “Acuity Layoffs Shake Up LightFair 2025.” The headline invoked Acuity-inspired drama. The flashing police siren added spectacle. The story constructed a fiction: that layoffs at a company not even exhibiting at the show, and which occurred weeks earlier, were somehow the dominant topic of discussion on the floor. The article claimed “news surfaced that cast a noticeable shadow,” but that news was old, and the “shadow” was conjured by the writer, Randy Reid, who implied a show-wide revelation or real-time discovery, when in fact the layoffs had been widely known for weeks.
Also misleading was the article’s framing of the layoffs as a “developing" story that would “unfold” — language that falsely suggested something new was happening, when in fact the only thing unfolding was Randy Reid’s creative writing, repackaging weeks-old news as a LightFair "shake up."
Let’s be clear. Acuity did lay off employees on April 22. Inside Lighting reported that news the very next day. We knew the story would be widely read, and it was. But we didn’t mention it on social media. We didn’t lead with it in our newsletter. We reported it factually, respectfully, and without spectacle. Because some of the people affected by that story are now wondering how they’ll pay their mortgage, not how many people clicked on a headline about their job loss.
Meanwhile, on May 8, EdisonReport placed the story as the top headline on its website with a flashing police siren graphic, led its newsletter with it and blasted the fictional headline across its social media channels. EdisonReport succeeded in making Acuity the unwilling star in a LightFair controversy that never existed.
And notably, EdisonReport didn’t cover those layoffs when they happened. There was no report on April 22. No newsletter headline. No urgency. Which raises the question: did they only discover the news weeks later — and decide to wrap it in LightFair drama to make it feel fresh? Because if the layoffs were truly urgent or disruptive, where was the coverage then?
Their attempt to link weeks-old layoffs to "major talking points" at LightFair wasn’t journalism. It was retrofitted clickbait dressed up as breaking news.
When the Shadow Isn’t Real
Inside Lighting spent six days on the ground in Las Vegas, speaking with hundreds of lighting people. Not one of them mentioned Acuity’s April restructuring. Not one.
Since LightFair, we've asked numerous attendees if they perceived Acuity layoffs as the "buzz" of the event that supposedly "shook up" the show. No one even remotely characterized Acuity as a topic that "stirred widespread concern on the show floor" as EdisonReport cited in its headline news.
Ask anyone who actually attended LightFair about the buzz on the show floor. Unless they work for EdisonReport, they’re not likely to mention Acuity. Instead, they’ll talk about the leaner-than-expected turnout, the thoughtful education sessions, the elegant IALD Awards event, U.S. tariffs on imported goods and the candid conversations about the show’s future. That’s the story any honest attendee would tell.
The truth is, the dominant narrative of LightFair 2025 was LightFair itself. Its present state. Its path forward. Attendees weren’t focused on April layoffs. They weren’t hearing buzz about them in the aisles. And that supposed “noticeable shadow”? Hard to find, especially from a company that didn’t even put up a booth.
The Line Between Reporting and Exploiting
We don’t claim perfection. Inside Lighting isn’t above having a little fun with headlines or formats when the moment calls for it. But we don't just make things up. And when the news is serious — especially when it involves people losing their livelihoods — we believe tone matters. Journalism in this industry should prioritize context, care and credibility. It should respect the people behind the stories, not use them as tools for traffic.
Sadly, this isn’t a one-time lapse for the longtime publisher. EdisonReport has a documented history of repeatedly crossing ethical lines — from publishing plagiarized content over and over to making egregiously inflated advertising claims for years. Despite public promises of “best in class” reform, the copyright infringement continued. That context matters, especially when the same outlet sensationalizes old news and distorts moments that deserve accuracy, not embellishment.
Acuity layoffs were news on April 22. But they weren’t LightFair news on May 8. They weren’t the buzz. They didn’t cast any noticeable shadows. And we'd bet that no credible attendee would say otherwise.
Let’s hold trade media to a higher standard. One that values accuracy over attention, and substance over spectacle.
EdisonReport distorted the moment, and real attendees know it. No amount of police-siren theatrics changes that.
