CH
Euronews employees are on strike over proposed layoffs and the closure of the Italian and Turkish channels. The union is obviously not happy and is worried more languages could be cut next. Current and former Euronews journalists make it sound like it's a pretty demoralizing place to work.
A story from one of the trades:
https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2021/02/09/euronews-staff-protest-at-possible-language-closures/
Also an AFP story which says this plan was announced in November as part of a bigger cost cutting scheme:
https://www.france24.com/fr/info-en-continu/20210209-euronews-gr%C3%A8ve-de-24-heures-de-salari%C3%A9s-de-la-cha%C3%AEne-europ%C3%A9enne
Huge respect to all those who went on strike. I spent nearly 3 years working to build a brand new channel within the euronews family. It’s heartbreaking to see my former colleagues and firm friends fighting to keep dream of a European news organisation alive. Courage mes amis https://t.co/AUKPMwfFqy
— Alex Morgan (@NewsAMorgan) February 9, 2021
A story from one of the trades:
https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2021/02/09/euronews-staff-protest-at-possible-language-closures/
Quote:
Although cuts are planned across the board both the Italian and Turkish language services would be dropped. Italian has been a part of Euronews since its launch in 1993, while its Turkish feed is seen as one of few independent voices in the language.
In a statement, journalists union SNJ said it believed the decisions would “open the door” to cuts in other services.
A spokesperson for Euronews told Broadband TV News that as of 13.00 CET only 13% of staff had failed to report for work. “Many media have had to face a difficult situation since the beginning of the COVID crisis. Privately owned international news channels, like Euronews, have had to deal with a loss in ad revenue, given the difficulties many of their clients are facing (in particular in the travel and tourism sector which represents an important source of ad revenue on the international media market). Consequently, like many of its competitors, Euronews has had to make a series of spending cuts, which include a redundancy plan which will consist first of a voluntary redundancy scheme.”
In a statement, journalists union SNJ said it believed the decisions would “open the door” to cuts in other services.
A spokesperson for Euronews told Broadband TV News that as of 13.00 CET only 13% of staff had failed to report for work. “Many media have had to face a difficult situation since the beginning of the COVID crisis. Privately owned international news channels, like Euronews, have had to deal with a loss in ad revenue, given the difficulties many of their clients are facing (in particular in the travel and tourism sector which represents an important source of ad revenue on the international media market). Consequently, like many of its competitors, Euronews has had to make a series of spending cuts, which include a redundancy plan which will consist first of a voluntary redundancy scheme.”
Also an AFP story which says this plan was announced in November as part of a bigger cost cutting scheme:
https://www.france24.com/fr/info-en-continu/20210209-euronews-gr%C3%A8ve-de-24-heures-de-salari%C3%A9s-de-la-cha%C3%AEne-europ%C3%A9enne