The direction of the News Diary (DN), hired by the administration led by José Paulo Fafe, was fired this Tuesday.
“We were fired and everyone who was hired by the administration is leaving,” a member of the DN board, led by José Júdice, confirmed to PÚBLICO.
The collective dismissal resulting from the “internal restructuring process” and based on “the extremely complicated financial situation” was announced this morning by the Global Media Group (GMG).
“Being aware that this process has a major impact on the operations of the News Diary, we will do everything to minimize its consequences. The truth is that the current situation was unsustainable both from a financial point of view and from the point of view of equity with professionals”, reads the statement, which also adds that a “renewed project for the DN will be created that will be developed in deep articulation with the current wording”.
Bruno Contreiras Mateus, current director of Live Money, He now assumes the role of interim director of the newspaper. After a “transition period of three months”, the journalist will leave GMG to “dedicate himself to personal projects”, the company wrote.
On Thursday (March 14th) a general strike of journalists, in protest against “job insecurity, along with the low salaries practiced in the sector”, reads the union’s statement, which demands “salary increases higher than inflation”, among other measures. The union has also demonstrated against GMG and has even prepared legal action against the company for the delay in paying workers.
“On this topic, an opinion was requested from the editorial board [CR]”, the press release adds. In October, the editorial board had unanimously decided “not to endorse” José Júdice’s direction. It thus became the second direction rejected at the Global Media Group in less than a month. In a new statement, the board of directors stated “its full and complete confidence” in the director and deputy director Ana Cáceres Monteiro, who had also been given a “negative opinion” by the CR.
In recent months, GMG has undergone profound restructuring due to the financial crisis and led to a wave of layoffs at the end of last year, which sparked protests and a strike outside the Newspaper (JN) and throughout the country. Now, JN, The game and TSF were purchased by a business group from the North of Portugal, while the securities News Diary e Live Money They were left out of the equation and remained under the jurisdiction of GMG.
In January, Marco Galinha had blamed GMG’s administration for the crisis, arguing that the company was not “fulfilling its obligations” and that the delay in paying salaries was not acceptable. He also said he had invested “around 16 million euros” in two years in the group, which, as he said, had revenue losses “similar to those of international groups”. Regarding bank debt, he further stated: “It was reduced from 68 million euros to less than one million euros.”
At the end of January, GMG threatened to sue lawyer António Garcia Pereira. At issue were accusations of payments to members of the company’s management at a time when GMG claimed it was unable to pay December’s salary and Christmas bonus to workers.
There are 20 people fired: the three management members (José Júdice, Ana Filipa Monteiro and Filipe Garcia); the general director, the graphics coordinator, journalists, advisors, assistants, a secretary, a technician and a driver.
A second GMG statement to which PÚBLICO had access reads: “After this initial communication of the intention of collective dismissal and the deadline for the possible appointment of a representative committee for the workers covered (5 working days), the phase of information and negotiations.” In addition to legal compensation, there will be no type of remuneration from the company, the statement added.
Editorial team rejects “collective dismissal” and promises “new forms of struggle”
In a statement released on Tuesday night, the editorial staff of Diário de Notícias “vehemently” repudiated yet another announcement of collective dismissal at the Global Media Group.
The newspaper’s workers emphasize that, “in the name of the survival of DN and good journalism”, they hope that “the administration will reconsider and that it will be possible to create a solution that allows us to retain good professionals”. But he promises, if this does not happen, “to move towards new forms of struggle”.
In the note, the editors of the daily consider it “incomprehensible” that, days before a general strike in the profession in defense of better salary conditions, they intend to fire journalists invoking the criteria of “salary being too high” and “salary equity in the company”.
And he regrets that this dismissal affects “once again the heart of the newspaper and journalism”
Furthermore, he says it is “absurd” that the company’s management claims as the reason for this dismissal the lack of results from the “investment made in strengthening the editorial team last November”.
“Naturally, it cannot be expected that, in just over three months, during which there were unpaid wages [permanecendo o subsídio de natal em falta]it was possible to witness a miraculous recovery”, say the journalists in the note.
According to the editors, “the reinforcement with experienced professionals carried out from November onwards was absolutely vital to ensure the quality that is expected and demanded from DN”. And “the same demand for responsibility and defense of the DN is also expected from those who manage it and those who invested in it”, emphasize the journalists.
The editorial team is, therefore, opposed to “another slimming down of DN”, which “for years has held the title of the smallest editorial office in the country, within the reference newspapers”.
In conclusion: “Firing journalists is giving up heritage, the only one of which the administration can and should be proud. Surviving collective redundancy after collective redundancy [não é construir]is to destroy good journalism and the resilience of those who have given up their lives to create a newspaper that lives up to the history and prestige of DN”.