Contents
Fewer journalists means less thematic depth, criticizes the journalists’ association.
Paper newspapers that are in the mailbox in the morning seem to be a thing of the past. Tamedia, the publisher of newspapers such as the “Tages-Anzeiger”, “Der Bund” and “Basler Zeitung”, has to save money.
It is not yet known which newspapers in German-speaking Switzerland will lose exactly how many jobs. The only thing that is clear is that six million francs have to be saved – 2.5 million in German-speaking Switzerland, the larger remainder in French-speaking Switzerland.
48 positions will be eliminated
Open box Close box
The media company Tamedia has announced the reduction of 48 jobs, 28 of them in French-speaking Switzerland. There are also some freelance and external employees that Tamedia no longer employs.
The erosion in the print business is progressing, Tamedia explains the reduction step. The digital business is growing rapidly, but is not able to compensate for the losses from print.
Fewer people for the same number of newspapers
Tamedia does not want to change anything in the editorial structures. This means that no newspapers will completely disappear from the market, and no further collaborations between individual newspapers are planned. The job cuts are not a drastic cut for the Swiss media landscape.
But it symbolizes a development that has been progressing for years. The number of journalists throughout Switzerland has fallen by almost a quarter to around 10,000 over the last ten years.
Legend: Fewer and fewer people are reading printed newspapers, and publishers’ revenues are falling accordingly. The result: more and more journalist positions are being cut. Keystone/Ennio Leanza
This is not good news for readers, says Urs Thalmann from the journalists’ professional association Imprint. Because the quality suffers. “The deepening of the topics that journalism should do is lost,” says Thalmann. This is also symptomatic in other media companies.
New positions are also being created in new media that are purely digital from the start. But: “At the moment they are not yet in a position to accommodate the offerings that we are used to from the classic print media,” emphasizes the union representative.
No cross-financing with profitable branches
The media companies themselves not only publish newspapers, but also produce radio, television and operate digital marketplaces. For the group to which Tamedia belongs, these are job portals, for example.
Unlike in the old media world, there are no connections between the areas, says Tamedia. Each company under the group umbrella must stand for itself. Cross-financing is excluded. Adjustments are therefore necessary. At least in French-speaking Switzerland, this is causing protests, including in politics. Because French-speaking Switzerland is more affected, with 28 jobs. Proportionately, ten percent of all Tamedia jobs there will be cut.
At yesterday’s media conference, Christine Gabella from Tamedia admitted that after the dismantling, it would hardly be possible to do everything that we do today in the future. But she contradicts the professional association’s accusation and emphasizes that the focus will be on “proximity and added value”.
So added value – for as many readers as possible. However, this is being written by fewer and fewer producers.