WUNDERKIND

Sep 12, 2023

September 12, 2023 Jyllands-Posten is laying off a double-digit number of employees in a new round of savings, the newspaper writes in a press release. The newspaper further states that the paper editing is outsourced to the company Wunderkind, because Jyllands-Posten wants to create a 100 percent digital newsroom. Wunderkind is already responsible for the editing and layout of Ekstra Bladet and Berlingske. “Journalists at Jyllands-Posten must first and foremost use their energies on journalism. The content is the most important. Unfortunately, the consideration for print has overshadowed a great deal of the way we work”, says acting editor-in-chief Marchen Neel Gjertsen in the press release. The savings round has been expected. Marchen Neel Gjertsen told MediaWatch in August that it is connected with the preparation of Jyllands-Posten’s budget for 2024. The media has not managed to achieve the objectives for digital subscription sales despite “really strong growth”, she said at the time. Jyllands-Posten’s former responsible editor-in-chief Jacob Nybroe was dismissed at the beginning of August to make room for new forces to bring the digital ambitions to life. Savings round in December 2022 In December 2022, Jyllands-Posten had to find more than DKK 20 million in savings to make the budgets last. This led to 16 resignations, with the termination of 11 employees, including two editorial employees, while five editorial employees were given voluntary redundancy schemes. In June, Jyllands-Posten also closed its four digital local media in Jutland, just two years after they were established. The round of savings in December was prompted by sharp increases in expenses for paper and distribution. The current round of savings is taking place with the aim of meeting the structural challenges of Jyllands-Posten being behind in relation to the digital transformation. At a large meeting on Tuesday, all employees at Jyllands-Posten were presented with the goal of a more digitally sustainable subscription economy. Marchen Neel Gjertsen has declared in advance that he is willing to open up for voluntary resignations and is now starting negotiations with the shop stewards at the newspaper about the terms on which this can happen. “We are going into some very important negotiations in the next two weeks with a desire for orderliness and fairness both for the individual employee and for Jyllands-Posten as a business. Therefore, I now want to focus on creating calm and progress internally,’ she says in the press release.