Why is Diego Yanez leaving?
Yanez will be remembered in television circles as a good journalist and a likable guy. But he seems to have climbed one rung too high on the career ladder. This is the sharp conclusion drawn by the NZZ am Sonntag in an editorial.
Diego Yanez, the editor-in-chief of Swiss Television, is stepping down after just three years (Werbewoche.ch reported). According to surveys conducted by the NZZ am Sonntag, there does not appear to have been a scandal, but rather some people are talking about "signs of wear and tear". Yanez had come out of the management meetings frustrated on several occasions. He had worn himself out with his duties as a manager.
The 55-year-old Yanez is widely described as sociable, honest and reliable, with a "chummy manner". Francesco Benini's commentary identifies another problem. Stepping on employees' toes when things don't go as they should - that's difficult for the editor-in-chief.
"You can't manage journalists like bank employees, that's not possible. You have to take the team with you," Yanez justifies to the NZZ am Sonntag. If a bank manager ordered employees to all wear blue ties, they would do so. Journalists would show up in shorts if ordered to do so. Yanez earned a degree in business administration and worked as a foreign exchange trader at a bank for four years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism.
There is no doubt about Yanez's qualities as a journalist. Whether he will leave his mark on Swiss television as editor-in-chief is less clear to the NZZ am Sonntag. (sis)
