Tamedia merges editorial teams and cuts jobs
The Zurich-based media company Tamedia is reorganizing its editorial departments and, in the process, is implementing the job cuts announced at the end of August. The number of full-time positions affected has been reduced from the original 90 to 55.
These personnel measures are expected to affect 30 full-time positions in German-speaking Switzerland and 25 full-time positions in French-speaking Switzerland, the company announced on Tuesday. According to the press release, the reduction of 90 full-time positions announced at the end of August was reduced through internal transfers and by not filling vacancies.
The job cuts are subject to the consultation procedure. A social plan will be applied, which will include early retirement.
In future, there will still be four editorial teams for the daily and Sunday titles in Zurich, Bern, Basel and French-speaking Switzerland, according to the press release. These will plan and develop their content in close cooperation.
The editors-in-chief of the four brands are Raphaela Birrer, currently Editor-in-Chief Tages-AnzeigerClaude Ansermoz for 24 HeuresWolf Röcken for the BZ Bernese Newspaper and Marcel Rohr for the Basel Newspaperit says. The editorial offices of Swiss family, Finance and economy as well as Bilan remained unchanged.
Züritipp disappears
This restructuring also has a drastic effect on the Züritipp out: It will be discontinued as a separate supplement at the end of 2024, according to the statement. Selected content will be published in the Tages-Anzeiger will appear. In addition, the BZ-Split Langenthaler Tagblatt in the course of next year with the Emmental edition of the Bernese Newspaper merged.
The company is also integrating the editorial teams of Zurich's regional newspapers - namely Country Messenger, Zurichsee-Zeitung, Zürcher Unterländer - to the Zurich editorial team. In future, it will be managed centrally by Editor-in-Chief Raphaela Birrer. The regional newspapers currently have editorial offices in Winterthur ZH, Wädenswil ZH and Bülach ZH.
The team of the SonntagsZeitung will also be integrated into the editorial team in Zurich, according to the press release. The editorial team of the Bernese Oberland titles - i.e. the Thuner Tagblatt and of the Bernese Oberländers - is headed by BZ editor-in-chief Wolf Röcken.
In French-speaking Switzerland, the editorial offices of Tribune de Genève and 24 Heures and Le Matin Dimanche an editorial team in the future. The Tribune de Genève will continue to have its own digital presence and be published as a newspaper.
The magazine Femina will be integrated into the Romandie editorial team and will continue to be published monthly as a supplement in Le Matin Dimanche and now also in 24 Heures and Tribune de Genève appear.
"Fatal" development
It opposes this further downsizing of editorial offices, which will "inevitably have an impact on journalistic production and its quality", the professional association Impressum stated in a press release.
For the people affected by this restructuring, Impressum is demanding accompanying measures that are "appropriate to the earthquake", Impressum continued.
Tamedia is not only reducing jobs, but also its journalistic offering, which is leading to a standardization of content, the Syndicom trade union wrote in a press release. This development is "fatal". The dismantling of regional and local journalism, which is losing further importance as a result, is particularly serious. (SDA/swi)
