MIDDLE EAST
06 WORLD NEWS
23 November 2008
MEDIA
Staff cuts continue
Excellence
Awards vs
Further gloomy news from the media sector as job losses increase
Sarkozy
By KIRSTIE HEPBURN/Correspondent
INTERNATIONAL Swinging job cuts have
FRANCE France 24 has received a
been made in Britain’s media sector, fol-
stay of execution after being named
lowing on from news in last week’s Media
top international news service of
Week that international media companies
the year at this week’s International
Time Warner, Condé Nast, Fairfax and Gan-
Media Excellence Awards. The state-
nett were making mass redundancies.
funded news channel beat Al Jazeera
This week saw more doom and gloom in
and BBC World to the prize at the cer-
the publishing world, with the announce-
emony in London.
ment of over 2,000 job losses in the UK in
The award is something of a snub
seven days. The redundancies are being
to French president Nicolas Sarkozy
blamed on plummeting ad revenues and
(pictured) , who indicated he wanted
increased competition from the internet.
to make radical reforms at the na-
Figures released by Trinity Mirror show a
tional broadcaster, basing it on the
decline in advertising of 20 per cent, with
BBC, with ad-free programming.
a 50 per cent drop in property ads. As a re-
Sarkozy had announced the death
sult, the group has closed 44 local titles.
knell for the English version of the
Emap, which is partly owned by Guard-
channel, but COO Jean-Yves Bonser-
ian Media Publishing and publishes B2B
gent insists that separate French- and
titles such as MEED has announced 40 job
English-language versions are the
losses, while Virgin Media will cut up to
most efficient model. France 24 also
2,200 jobs by the end of 2010. Haymarket
has Arabic-language programming.
will cut 50 posts but hopes to redeploy its
Presenting the award, the organis-
staff across other divisions. Time Out will
ers said: “France 24 has pushed
lose 13 jobs, 11 from the Daily Mirror and
boundaries, both in style and cover-
five from Gaydar Radio.
age of different themes. It has now
In the last three months, more than 4,000
matured into a strong, reliable and
media jobs have been lost in the UK alone,
inventive international news channel
at both national and local levels. backs, particularly in hospitality budgets, Meanwhile, the situation is no bet-
for the 21st century. They have been
Broadcaster Channel 4 is cutting nearly use of taxis and attendance of awards cer- ter in the US. Insiders predict lay-offs at
open to sharing their ideas and tech-
15 per cent of its commercial team of 162 emonies. Job cuts may also be made, as forbes.com as well as the likely closure of
nologies with other broadcasters, be-
employees, along with the interactive and a result of a £140 million ($210 million) Forbes Traveler. The New York Observer
lieving the world needs a multitude
mobile ad sales division, which will be shortfall in funding as the economic cri- has reported that Entertainment Weekly,
of voices to be better informed.”
shut down. sis worsens. The saving of three months of owned by Time Inc, is making cuts across
Put that in your pipe and fumez it,
The National Union of Journalists, which Jonathan Ross’s rumoured £6 million sal- its print and online divisions.
Monsieur Sarko.
claims the redundancies are unnecessary ary will have helped. Parent company Time Inc announced
and are only coming because publishing The BBC has been trimming costs for 600 layoffs last month, and voluntary re-
houses will not accept reduced profits, has the last four years: its annual budget has dundancy packages have already been
called off its planned strike ballot affect- been cut by £350million ($520million) and made to staff.
ing broadcaster ITV Regional News, after staff numbers have been reduced by 7,000. Hearst and McGraw-Hill have also an-
reaching a redundancy deal. The corporation’s “Fewer, Bigger, Better” nounced major job cuts, while News Cor-
The BBC’s director general Mark Thomp- plan stipulates a 3 per cent budget cut ev- poration’s executive chairman Rupert Mur-
son has sent a memo to staff to warn them ery year to save an additional £535million doch has predicted job losses in Australia
the corporation would make further cut- ($790million). and Britain.
Car giants woes worry ad agencies
US Ad execs are fearing the worst as the Q3 loss of $2.3 billion.
Detroit motor industry suffers declining For the quartet of Omnicom, Interpublic,
sales. The Big Three—General Motors, Ford Publicis and WPP, this equates to as much
and Chrysler—were responsible for 3.3 per as 6 per cent of total annual revenue.
cent of last year’s measured ad spend—a Spare a moment for men’s magazine
total of $4.6billion. Sports Illustrated, which gets 8 per cent of its
On figures released to end of August, the ad revenue from the Big Three motor com-
motor companies’ ad spending has fallen panies. If the auto industry declines any fur-
by 14 per cent—and that was before sales ther, the magazine may not be able to afford
collapsed in October. Industry sources its exorbitant supermodel fees for the annual
state that GM will cut its marketing spend swimsuit edition. That thought alone may
by 10 per cent or more in 2009, following a encourage Congress to pass a bailout plan.
Chris Fisher
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