Solidarity to Media24: “Show us your statements before you retrench.”

Solidarity believes that the cause of Media24’s operational challenges lies with its senior management, not with employees who now stand to lose their jobs through a section 189A retrenchment process as a result of poor management decisions.

Because of this, Solidarity will ask for full disclosure of Media24’s strategic and financial planning, including the remuneration packages of members from senior management and editors, to assess the rationale behind the latest restructuring process that affects up to 126 jobs.

Staff from established publications such as Huisgenoot, Sarie, Netwerk24, News24, YOU and Weg!/GO! are affected by this.

The latest notices issued to staff also represent the fourth similar retrenchment process within the past three years at Media24 – a clear indication that strategic goals established with the previous retrenchment processes have not been achieved.

“Once again, Media24 wants to make skilled journalists, photographers, layout artists and other staff pay the price for management errors. This while it is clear that irresponsible management decisions have brought the company to this point,” says Helgard Cronjé, deputy general secretary of Solidarity for the public sector.

According to Solidarity, this disclosure will indicate whether sufficient alternatives have been considered to make Media24 financially sustainable.

Since previous restructuring plans have not succeeded in achieving the strategic objective, Solidarity believes the problem lies at the management level rather than the operational level.

For this reason, the remuneration of senior Media24 staff, including editors, is relevant to Media24’s business modelling and strategic survival plans.

Solidarity believes that it is also at that level that reckless editorial decisions are made

“Those editorial decisions do not lie with the staff who are now under fire. Yet they are one of the main reasons why readers have been alienated, and subscribers have fled.

“In the process, credible journalism was sacrificed by some titles. That credibility will not be brought back through any restructuring or consolidation process,” says Cronjé.

In this process, Solidarity stands squarely behind its members and the staff of Media24 publications whose careers are in jeopardy because of questionable management decisions.