The announcement of cuts to Tamedia’s budget on Tuesday has sparked strong criticism. Interviewed by RTS, the group’s CEO Jessica Peppel-Schulz deplores misunderstandings concerning the disappearance of the management in Romandie and the investments for the Tribune de Genève.
“Both pieces of information are false,” Jessica Peppel-Schulz told Forum on Wednesday evening. “Despite the withdrawal of our director in French-speaking Switzerland, Christine Gabella, we still have two members of the management in French-speaking Switzerland.”
The Tamedia director assures that the “two excellent editors-in-chief in Geneva and Lausanne” will take over. “They have long been represented by the director. And now we are changing this concept so that our employees and decision-makers can sit directly at the table where decisions are made.”
>> Also listen to the interview with Jessica Peppel Schulz in the 7:30 p.m. news:
Regarding the cuts in investments for the Tribune de Genève, the native of Hamburg (Germany) responds that the group has “chosen to strengthen 24 Heures because it has great potential in terms of market”, but “this does not mean that we will no longer invest in the Tribune de Genève or that it will not have a digital version”, she reassures.
“These statements do not correspond to our message delivered yesterday,” insists Jessica Peppel-Schulz.
>> Read more about the reactions to Tamedia’s strategy: Nathalie Fontanet and Christelle Luisier criticize Tamedia’s strategy with one voice et Tamedia’s restructuring announcement sparks avalanche of criticism in French-speaking Switzerland
>> Report from Geneva, where recent decisions are causing reactions:
The director points to the evolution of press consumption as justification for this “strategy (…) severe with these terribly painful cuts”.
We need to embrace a new way of using media. People decide how they want to read our publications in print or digitally.
“We don’t just see this in Switzerland or Europe, but on a global scale. We are all concerned about this development (…) We must therefore accept a new use of media. People decide how they want to read our publications in print or digitally,” she explains.
“The world has changed and we must follow this evolution by transforming ourselves. We also see that our sources of income are diminishing, as are the budgets allocated by politicians,” adds Jessica Peppel-Schulz, who assures that Tamedia wants “a future” for its titles in Romandie.
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Romandie “is part of Tamedia’s DNA”
“We will do everything to satisfy our French-speaking readership” because “part of Tamedia’s DNA lives on through its French-speaking publications. We are proud of our brands. We are proud of our readers and our employees”, assures the director who arrived in 2023 at the head of the group.
The use of media and the interest in paying to read them has evolved and here again, we must adapt.
According to Jessica Peppel-Schulz, the closure of the printing works in Bussigny (VD) and Zurich is justified because the three sites that Tamedia currently has “are only operating at half capacity”.
“Demand for paper newspapers has declined, so we have to adapt to this inevitable reality,” she says, continuing with another observation: “the use of media and the interest in paying to read them have evolved and here again, we have to adapt.”
“That’s why we have a new strategy for sustainable perspectives and, unfortunately, we have to go through these different stages,” she concludes.
Interview by Katja Schaer
Web article: juma with ats
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