The decision by troubled media company Mecom to sell its prize German assets is a golden opportunity to abandon reckless cutbacks and put quality journalism back on the media agenda, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has said.
Mecom, a transnational giant based in Britain and funded by investment bankers, has bought up hundreds of newspaper titles across Europe over the past few years and has become notorious for enforcing tough editorial cutbacks and changes to squeeze profits out of media that are caught up in major restructuring of the industry. They have now been forced to sell German newspaper publishing houses Berliner Verlag and the Hamburger Morgenpost to meet their own cash crisis.
"Companies obsessed with making profits rather than investing in the future of media are not what Europeans need," said Arne König, President of EFG, the regional group of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), which represents more than 260000 journalists in Europe.
EFJ together with its German affiliates, the DJV and dju in ver.di, said the takeover of the Berliner Verlag and Hamburger Morgenpost by the experienced editing group M Dumont Schauberg, is a golden opportunity to provide job security and to reinforce quality standards in media.
"This is the moment to ensure that long overdue investment is made in the newsroom ," said König. "It's an opportunity to put quality back on the agenda and to restore journalism to its core role."
EFJ said that Mecom, led by David Montgomery, a former boss of the British tabloid group the Daily Mirror, had provided a poor example of ownership, serving only the interests of investors rather than recognizing the special and important role that quality media play in European social and democratic life. "We hope Dumont will now install a long-term vision of journalism, which will focus on standards, ethics and good quality service for citizens," added König.
EFJ has monitored the policies of Mecom in Germany and the Netherlands over the past two years and has voiced strong doubts over the Mecom strategy arguing that cuts in editorial staff and elimination of editing services, while saving on salary costs, would turn out to be a dangerously false economy.
