Autumn is the time for budget cuts in the media industry

This autumn doesn't bring good news for the media industry: staff cuts, wage cuts, TV stations going off the air. Costs are invariably being cut, in the print media, in the online media and in TV and radio.

The latest news comes from Jurnalul Naţional (the National Journal, owned by Intact Media). According to some inside information, starting with October 1st, several cost cutting measures will be implemented, which the employees have already been told about, of which the worst is that some of the wages will be cut by one quarter. If the information is confirmed, it wouldn't be the first time that the newspaper resorts to this kind of measures to balance the books. Cătălin Tolontan, editor in chief at Gazeta Sporturilor, which is part of the Intact group, wrote on his blog that just like other publications, Jurnalul Naţional saw consistent losses in 2011 as well: "< < Adevărul > > even had years where it lost 30 million Euros lately, and Jurnalul Naţional ended 2011 with losses of 4 million Euros, according to financial statements accessible through the Trade Registry".

Like we have reported before, things aren't looking so good at Realitatea TV either. In the beginning of September, the management has announced that more than half of the 630 employees of the TV station would be laid off, meaning only 300 would be kept. Meanwhile, one of the higher ranked managers, Gabriel Bugnar, resigned from his position of managing editor at Realitatea TV, which makes the implementation of the drastic measures uncertain.

Things have been left quite at the public television this month. Following the decision of the management, two of the stations, TVR INFO and TVR Cultural have ceased broadcasting. On August 10th, the Board of Directors of the Romanian Television Company adopted the report of the working group which underlies the Program for Economic Recovery of the Romanian Television, which stipulates that TVR Info and TVR Cultural need to stop broadcasting, and the mission of TVR Cultural will be taken over by TVR 2 (which will be renamed TVR 2 Cultural) and by TVR 3. Information which originates from the management of TVR, which was published last week, provides a little more hope for one of the TV stations which got axed. The Chairman and CEO of TVR, Claudiu Săftoiu, said, after the hearings before the Culture commissions of the parliament, that this autumn, he is trying to achieve a partnership based on a joint investment by TVR and the other partner, so that TVR Info can continue broadcasting.

The Greek press also has major issues, but over there, the journalists have taken to the streets, in the beginning of this week, and went on strike for 24 hours. Journalists protested against the wage cuts and the massive layoffs in this sector, which is considered crucial for a country's democracy. Hundreds of journalists, printers, cameramen, protested in the center of Athens against the humiliating working conditions, the wage cuts and the fact that the majority of the editors have come to operating with a minimum number of employees following the layoffs which have gotten out of hand.