Ex-magazine editor-in-chief defends himself against bullying allegations
Finn Canonica, the former editor-in-chief of the magazine, has partially admitted to wrongdoing following serious allegations of bullying made by a former long-time employee. In a radio interview, he described the swastikas he had scribbled in female employees« manuscripts whenever they used Germanisms as »extreme stupidity.”.
If he had made a mistake, it was in 2014, when he had "perhaps been out of tone" in the workforce and "communicated harshly," the 57-year-old said in the interview with Radio 1 broadcast on Sunday.
The reason, he said, was primarily the structures or the Tamedia Group at the time, which had imposed strict requirements on him to save more than a million francs within a year. "I was under extreme pressure," Canonica said.
The former Magazine-editor Anuschka Roshani had in a guest article in the German magazine Mirror made serious accusations against her former supervisor a month ago. She had been a victim of abuse of power for years. Under Canonica, a regime of bullying and sexism prevailed. He had verbally belittled her and, among other things, called her "the unfucked one." She accused her ex-employer of inaction.
Report: allegations insufficiently substantiated
Canonica's attorney had denied all allegations. Canonica says she is considering legal action. An external investigation commissioned by the Tamedia publishing house concluded last year that a significant part of the allegations, in particular the accusation of sexual harassment, could not be confirmed. In general, the allegations were partly insufficiently substantiated, it said.
Roshani worked from 2002 to 2022 as an editor at the Magazine of the Zurich-based Tamedia publishing house. She was dismissed at the end of last year. Canonica stood by the Magazine, the weekend supplement of the Zurich daily newspaper Tages-Anzeigeras Editor-in-Chief between 2007 and 2022. The publishing house parted company with him last summer.
According to Canonica, the publication of the allegations hit him hard. It was "a world come crashing down" for him and his family. After the Mirror-He had fallen into a "depression," no longer dared to go out on the street, had to take medication and go to a clinic. His family had also suffered, and the children had been absent from school at times. (SDA)
