2023-05-26 21:42:57
The Roman daily Le Temps is in economic difficulty, two years after its takeover by the Aventinus Foundation, learned the RTS Investigation Department. Its editorial line and its management are also contested internally.
The Romand daily, property of the Aventinus Foundation, is in financial and managerial difficulty, learned the RTS Investigation Department. Acquired at the end of 2020 from the publisher Ringier Axel Springer Suisse SA, the newspaper had become the first in the country to be handed over to patrons. He lives today delicate hours.
According to information cross-checked by the RTS, the management of the newspaper projects a deficit much higher than what had been budgeted for 2023. This additional overdraft would be between 800,000 and 900,000 francs, in addition to the two million francs of losses already planned and supported by the Aventinus Foundation.
This situation results in particular from a fall in the audience of the paper newspaper, coupled with a stagnation of digital, after years of increase inherited essentially from the former management. Le Temps has indeed lost 12,000 readers between the 2022 and 2023 studies by the specialized institute REMP, which corresponds to a drop of 13%. Also, revenues are down this year, particularly with the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS.
Savings measures
On May 8, savings measures were therefore presented by management to the newspaper’s staff. A first since its takeover. The plan proposed lowering the LPP for employees to its legal minimum (except for employees aged 60 and over), abolishing staff care costs and suspending the contribution to training costs.
These measures were flatly refused by the employees of the title on May 11, according to information from RTS. From then on, a process of discussions began with the setting up, next week, of a working group, bringing together the Society of Editors and Staff (SRP) and the management of the newspaper. The goal? Try to find short-term financial solutions by mid-June. Layoffs are not excluded.
Internal defiance
At the same time, the newspaper has to face another crisis: the mistrust of the employees towards their editor-in-chief and their management. A survey was carried out among 110 employees of the title between March and May. Fifty-nine people responded (54%). It shows the staff’s lack of adherence to the newspaper’s new editorial line.
Nearly three quarters of respondents (74.6%) say they feel little or moderately in tune with the current editorial line. To this is added 8.5% who say they are “not at all in phase” with it. Only 1.7% of respondents claim to be “completely in tune” with the editorial choices of the title.
Straight and unclear line
What is reproached to the current editorial line? The answer that comes up the most (18 occurrences) is a “straightening of the line” and the “promotion of reactionary subjects”. This is followed by an editorial line that is “not assumed” or “unclear” (9 responses), followed by “too vertical management which takes away a lot of editorial freedom and creativity from journalists”, a “lack of trust and dialogue” and a “lack of debate and exchange” (8 responses).
A total of 26 negative remarks appear in the document for eight positive remarks. In addition, 45 of the 59 respondents (76%) consider it necessary that a “frank debate around the editorial line takes place”. In this context, a meeting between the staff and the editor-in-chief had been scheduled for mid-May before being postponed, given the economic situation of the title. It will finally take place next week, Thursday June 1st.
Correlated crises
The two crises that Le Temps is currently going through are linked, in the eyes of many employees. The strategy implemented during the takeover did not have the expected results, they believe. They regret a sort of inertia within the newspaper, with few innovations, and a strategy focused on regional news which has not materialized beyond the Lake Geneva region.
The rapid processing of information, driven by the new editor-in-chief, did not bear fruit, judge several sources of the RTS. Result: the audience is not at the rendezvous and the cash flow is lacking. In this context of financial difficulties, the takeover of Heidi.news and its editorial staff by Le Temps, revealed by Blick last week, raises questions internally.
Silence d’Aventine
What does the owner of the title, the Aventinus Foundation, think? Contacted by the RTS, its president François Longchamp does not wish to comment. The former Geneva State Councilor recalls the basic principle of the foundation: not to intervene in the editorial or administrative orientations of the newspaper. It refers to the direction of the daily Romand in the broad sense (read box).
Raphael Leroy
1685160763
#Temps #faces #financial #difficulties #internal #disputes #rts.ch