SDA editorial team calls for separation of editorial and commercial at Keystone_SDA
The SDA editorial staff fears that the merged company, Keystone_SDA, will have to operate on a for-profit basis. Impressum and Syndicom believe this jeopardizes the news agency’s mission and, in a resolution adopted by the editorial staff meetings, are calling for a strict separation of commercial and editorial operations.
At the end of October it was announced that SDA and Keystone are to merge (Werbewoche.ch reported). Now the plans of the board of directors and management are becoming more concrete. According to the journalists' association Impressum, the largely independent news agency without profit pressure is to become "a cash cow that has to yield an annual return". The works meeting of SDA journalists is resolutely resisting this and has passed a joint resolution.
The planned merger of SDA and Keystone will probably be approved by the Competition Commission (Weko) in spring 2018, assumes Imprint. This will mark the beginning of a process that will set the trend for the quality of information in Switzerland. The signals coming from the designated board of directors and the management are "worrying and should worry politicians and the population".
Return instead of service
The new company Keystone_SDA is pursuing return targets and will pay a dividend to shareholders in the medium term, according to a statement sent out by Imprint and Syndicom. This is a paradigm shift. Until now, SDA had been a service provider for its owners, the Swiss media publishers. It did not have to make a profit, but had to provide high-quality information from all regions of the country at cost price. This is now under threat.
Price pressure from customers
The SDA has always been in the difficult situation that its largest customers are also its largest shareholders. Now these customers, who are already benefiting from the merger as shareholders, are squeezing the prices for the news agency's services, the statement continues. Because the negotiations have dragged on, the SDA board of directors will not be able to approve the 2018 budget until this Wednesday. The editorial team now fears that revenues will fall again.
PR instead of journalism
The professional association Impressum and the media union Syndicom fear that PR and journalism will mix in the new corporate construct due to profit expectations and price pressure. Both SDA (News Aktuell) and Keystone (PPR Media) already produce commercial content. The editorial staff of SDA is concerned about journalistic independence after the merger and demands that journalism and PR be clearly separated in the future company, also in terms of personnel. With these profit expectations and simultaneous price dumping, there is a threat of job cuts. Individual departments of sda seem to be at risk, as does the training of young journalists.
Resolution passed with a large majority
The SDA journalists have passed a resolution at various staff meetings with only one dissenting vote. In it, they make clear demands of management and the board of directors.
- No mixing of PR and journalism
- No freebies like video or hidden discounts
- Transparent cost structure
- An editorial representation in the management
- Training positions for trainees continue
The workforce expects the management to hold a transparent discussion immediately and before adopting a new strategy.
