From
Moritz Baumsteiger
The press release that Deutsche Welle sent out on Friday was full of keywords that had been used by managers at the publishing houses Burda, Springer and Bertelsmann in a similar way in the past few weeks: “consistently continue digital transformation”, “grown requirements”, “required realignment”. Communiqués that verbosely describe such challenges are usually soon followed by negative messages, as was the case with Deutsche Welle. There is talk of “precautionary savings”, also of “socially acceptable solutions” – the German foreign broadcaster has to save, employees will have to leave the house. And just as the publishing strategists are saying goodbye to their print products, Deutsche Welle will also be cutting out the traditional ways in which its content has hitherto reached consumers: the German-language TV channel of the institution will no longer be available in a linear format abroad from next year .