Last week we reported that the current crisis in the media sector has led to 80 jobs being lost at the Saint-Paul media company, which includes Luxemburger Wort, Luxembourg Times, and Contacto.
Roger Infalt, member of the Luxembourg Press Council and Secretary General of the ALJP, says its only the tip of the iceberg, and is the result of the pandemic and severe austerity plans. Press quality will suffer as a result of such reductions, Infalt says.
The Journal, for example, which was once a daily print paper, will become an online-only paper from January onwards, and seven positions will be cut there.
The planned law on press assistance would, however, focus more on quality than quantity, i.e. look at how many professional journalists are employed rather than how many newspapers are printed. In this case, however, only full-time journalists and no freelancers would be considered, something that independent station Radio Ara had already expressed their concern with.
The Association of Luxembourg Professional Journalists, in a letter last week, called on the Belgian owner of Saint-Paul to take back the cuts and engage in a transparent and fair social dialogue, and to abide by the provisions of the collective agreement.
