Keystone-SDA focuses on news and separates from PR
In the future, the Keystone-SDA news agency will concentrate on its main business: multimedia news in three national languages. The public relations and corporate production divisions are to be sold or spun off. This should, not least, pave the way for further funding.
With the strategy adjustment, the board of directors wants to secure the future of the news agency, the company announced on Thursday. The agency, like all media companies, has been in a state of great upheaval for some time. The difficult situation of the entire industry was again strongly aggravated by the Corona crisis.
Therefore, the agency is to concentrate on its core business. The production of independent, multimedia news content in three national languages "is and will remain an indispensable part of the basic media supply in Switzerland," the statement said. Sports is also an important element that will be continued, it added.
Sell or outsource PR
On the other hand, the company intends to dispose of other business areas as part of its new strategy: The PR and Corporate Production divisions are to be sold or spun off. With the adjusted strategy, the Board of Directors wants to create the conditions for the national news agency to receive further promotion. The Board of Directors is convinced that Keystone-SDA should remain a full-service multimedia agency, the company writes: "The basic supply of news to the Swiss media is of central importance, especially in times of crisis."
Goodwill in politics
In mid-April, the Federal Council decided to provide greater support for the news agency in the future. The federal contribution will now amount to a maximum of four million Swiss francs per year instead of the previous two million. This is linked to a clearly defined performance mandate.
In their special session at the beginning of May, the Swiss parliament also adopted proposals for bridging aid to the media in the Corona crisis. These include temporary funds to enable the Keystone-SDA news agency to provide its basic text service free of charge to Swiss media customers in the national languages of German, French and Italian.
Keystone-SDA was created in 2018 from the merger between the Swiss Dispatch Agency SDA and the picture agency Keystone. The restructuring led to the elimination of 36 of the total 150 editorial jobs. The announcement of these cuts was followed by a labor dispute in early 2018 with a strike lasting several days. (SDA)
