Swissinfo: Five redundancies in the editorial department
As part of the reorganization of Swissinfo.ch, the number of full-time positions will be reduced by 40. Five journalists will be laid off; the remaining full-time positions will be eliminated through natural attrition.
Two journalists in the Spanish-language editorial department had already been laid off two weeks ago. The number of full-time positions will have to be reduced by 40 to reach 86 by the end of 2012, editor-in-chief Christophe Giovannini told news agency SDA on Thursday. He said the job cuts would mainly come from natural departures, early retirements and transfers to other SRG units.
The five journalists made redundant worked in the German-, French- and Italian-language editorial offices, which will merge in January 2012. After their merger, the three national editorial offices will have only 15 journalists with 80 percent employment, almost half less than before. The annual budget of the Internet platform for Swiss abroad and foreigners interested in Switzerland, the former Swiss Radio International, will drop from CHF 26 million to CHF 17 million.
The next stage at Swissinfo.ch will be to restructure the administration and technology departments. It is to take place by summer 2012. Layoffs cannot be ruled out in these areas either, but there will probably be transfers to other SRG units, says the editor-in-chief.
The reduction in journalistic capacities, especially in the national language editorial offices, is not well received by the Swiss Syndicate of Media Professionals SSM. According to SDA, the SSM described the cutbacks as a strategic mistake. In-depth reporting in the national languages is not only of central importance for the Swiss abroad. It is also important for foreign opinion leaders such as diplomats and business circles. For this target group, Swissinfo is the central source if they want an objective, reliable and balanced picture of Switzerland.
Imprint regrets the job cuts at Swissinfo
Imprint, is dismayed by Swissinfo's decision to solve the budget cuts solely through a massive reduction in jobs, which will be seen as severely limiting Swissinfo's offering. This writes the Swiss Association of Journalists on Thursday in a communiqué. The association stressed that the information offered by Swissinfo is unique and represents an extremely important source of information both for foreign interested parties and for the Swiss abroad, which cannot be replaced by other online information services.
The association was involved in preventing the cancellation of the federal contribution to Swissinfo. It is disappointing that such a large number of jobs are being cut anyway, Impressum continues. Because also the information offer in the three national languages, which is particularly affected by this dismantling, cannot be replaced by that of other portals.
The female journalists affected by layoffs are being released into a job market that is still extraordinarily difficult. Imprint therefore calls on SRG to protect these employees from unemployment through special, targeted measures.
