SDA and DDP: Cooperation in the Swiss market
The two news agencies, SDA and DDP (Deutscher Depeschendienst), will collaborate in the Swiss market going forward. The AP office (now DDP Switzerland), which has been in operation since 1981, will become the DDP’s correspondent office.
The Swiss Dispatch Agency (SDA) will take over the German DDP text services as well as the DDP's foreign dispatch service (DAPD) for distribution in Switzerland as of February 1, the two companies announced on Thursday. In return, DDP will receive a license to distribute SDA services in its markets. The two partners explained that the cooperation was necessary due to the changed media landscape in Switzerland and the associated cost pressure. The DDP Group intends to concentrate on its core business in Germany in the future.
It has not been possible to maintain a national Swiss service with only 15 people, Martin Vorderwülbecke, board member of DDP Media, is quoted as saying in the statement. The DDP Group will continue to employ some of the AP Switzerland staff in a correspondents' office.
The DDP Group had acquired the exclusive rights for the news service in German for Germany, Austria and Switzerland from the American news agency Associated Press (AP) on December 7, 2009. The foreign news service is produced from the English-language service of AP International. SDA is now taking over the distribution of this DDP foreign news service for Switzerland. It thus ensures that the Swiss media can use another independent news source. The AP news service guarantees high journalistic quality as well as worldwide coverage. SDA is not taking on any of the existing ddp staff, as it has to cut jobs itself.
Editorial staff of the DDP "outraged and shocked".
The editorial staff of DDP Switzerland has reacted "outraged and shocked" to the dismissal of the staff announced on Thursday. The editorial office had to learn about the step in the Orginaltextservice of the competitor SDA. A social plan does not exist.
Only after the publication of the notice in the original text service had ddp managing director Franz Maurer informed the staff verbally. The dismissals were incomprehensible, after the new owners of DDP Switzerland had "still firmly committed themselves to the Swiss service" after the takeover of AP in December. It is incomprehensible why the "maintenance of a national Swiss service with only 15 people" should suddenly no longer be possible. After all, AP Switzerland had been successfully supplying the media with news for almost 30 years. The editorial team was deeply disappointed that it had not been consulted in the run-up to this drastic measure. In addition, the new owners had not given any assurances about a social plan or any severance payments. The fact that the move is supposed to be "also in the interest of the customers" also does not make sense to the editorial team. After all, competition also stimulates the media business. The press release concludes: "The layoffs hit us all the harder because we have always been extremely committed to providing a good agency service.
Comedia and Imprint demand social plan
The media union Comedia states that DDP only bought AP Schweiz in order to close it down. This is further bad news, and more media workers are being left on the street with no prospects. Comedia demands a decent social plan from the companies involved for those laid off.
The journalists' association Imprint echoed this demand. In addition, the dismissals were illegal. The two owners AP GmbH and The Associated Press Germany GmbH together maintained one editorial office each for German-speaking Switzerland and French-speaking Switzerland.
Although the two companies belonged to different owners, they operated a single business with more than 20 employees. Consequently - according to impressum - the dismissals violated the regulations for mass dismissals in the Code of Obligations.
It has not been possible to maintain a national Swiss service with only 15 people, Martin Vorderwülbecke, board member of DDP Media, is quoted as saying in the statement. The DDP Group will continue to employ some of the AP Switzerland staff in a correspondents' office.
The DDP Group had acquired the exclusive rights for the news service in German for Germany, Austria and Switzerland from the American news agency Associated Press (AP) on December 7, 2009. The foreign news service is produced from the English-language service of AP International. SDA is now taking over the distribution of this DDP foreign news service for Switzerland. It thus ensures that the Swiss media can use another independent news source. The AP news service guarantees high journalistic quality as well as worldwide coverage. SDA is not taking on any of the existing ddp staff, as it has to cut jobs itself.
Editorial staff of the DDP "outraged and shocked".
The editorial staff of DDP Switzerland has reacted "outraged and shocked" to the dismissal of the staff announced on Thursday. The editorial office had to learn about the step in the Orginaltextservice of the competitor SDA. A social plan does not exist.
Only after the publication of the notice in the original text service had ddp managing director Franz Maurer informed the staff verbally. The dismissals were incomprehensible, after the new owners of DDP Switzerland had "still firmly committed themselves to the Swiss service" after the takeover of AP in December. It is incomprehensible why the "maintenance of a national Swiss service with only 15 people" should suddenly no longer be possible. After all, AP Switzerland had been successfully supplying the media with news for almost 30 years. The editorial team was deeply disappointed that it had not been consulted in the run-up to this drastic measure. In addition, the new owners had not given any assurances about a social plan or any severance payments. The fact that the move is supposed to be "also in the interest of the customers" also does not make sense to the editorial team. After all, competition also stimulates the media business. The press release concludes: "The layoffs hit us all the harder because we have always been extremely committed to providing a good agency service.
Comedia and Imprint demand social plan
The media union Comedia states that DDP only bought AP Schweiz in order to close it down. This is further bad news, and more media workers are being left on the street with no prospects. Comedia demands a decent social plan from the companies involved for those laid off.
The journalists' association Imprint echoed this demand. In addition, the dismissals were illegal. The two owners AP GmbH and The Associated Press Germany GmbH together maintained one editorial office each for German-speaking Switzerland and French-speaking Switzerland.
Although the two companies belonged to different owners, they operated a single business with more than 20 employees. Consequently - according to impressum - the dismissals violated the regulations for mass dismissals in the Code of Obligations.
