Is critical journalism becoming a scarce commodity?
The media industry has come under severe pressure during the economic crisis. Is there a danger that criticism will become a scarce commodity in journalism? The sharp decline in advertising revenue has been followed by a permanent reduction in jobs. Now the Swiss media union Comedia has declared a job shortage.
The media landscape is being destroyed, as Stephanie Vonarburg from Comedia emphasized in an interview with Pressetext. Critical journalism is in a bad way. A gigantic concentration process is underway in which the industry is shrinking to a few remaining media companies, says the industry expert. However, they are also reaching critical limits if they continue to bleed their editorial offices dry. According to the media union, around 1,000 jobs have been lost in the Swiss media sector since fall 2008. And the job cuts are still continuing. As a result, media reporting is increasingly coming from the press departments of corporations. The slimmed-down editorial offices are increasingly at the mercy of PR offices and communications departments and are dependent on their preparatory work.
