Bild will replace various professional figures within the newsroom with artificial intelligence. This was announced by the publisher of the German tabloid, the best-selling in Europe, in an email to the editorial staff published by the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine. The decision by Axel Springer, the publisher of Bild, is part of a 100 million euro cost-cutting plan aimed at improving the newspaper’s profitability. The plan also includes a reorganization of the regional newspaper sector, which should lead to hundreds of layoffs.
A source told the German newspaper that the cut will be in the three-digit range. At least 200 jobs are estimated to be at risk. The same source said attempts were underway to make the cuts happen with “socially acceptable” solutions. But they will start. And they will make Bild the first major media to start a major replacement within its editorial staff of human professional figures with artificial intelligence systems.
Replaced editors, paginators and photo editors
In a passage of the email, reports Faz, it is stated that “unfortunately we must “separate ourselves also from colleagues who carry out tasks that can be replaced by artificial intelligence and/or digital processes, or who cannot adapt to this new organization with their current skills”. Then an indication of the roles that will be replaced over time: “There will no longer be the functions of editor-in-chief, pager, proofreader, secretarial and photo editor as they exist today”.
It’s still. “To remain economically viable and successful in the future, our result in the German media sector must improve by around 100 million euros over the next three years. Through increases in turnover, but also through cost reductions,” announced the group managing director, Mathias Döpfner. A cost reduction made necessary “because the turnover, profit and cost situation are evolving in such a way that with ‘Bild’ and ‘Welt’, we would be in a dangerous situation within a few years if we do nothing”.
“Paper’s Out”
Revenue and profit are not “everything. But without revenue and profit, everything is nothing. The freedom to be able to do independent and critical journalism depends on economic success,” added Döpfner.
For the German manager, paper journalism is over, and we have entered the third phase of “digital only”. This means “not only saying goodbye to print, but also a whole new understanding of quality journalism in the digital age.”