“Open letter” from the DW sports editors: “Our department will be de facto dissolved”

The sports department of Deutsche Welle published an “open letter” on Friday about the austerity measures announced by the international broadcaster. As a result of drastic cuts across the company aimed at offsetting a projected tens of millions of dollars in deficit, 200 to 300 freelancers at DW are expected to lose their jobs. “The cuts at DW Sport are particularly drastic. Our budget is cut by 75 percent. As a consequence, this means that up to 60 sports colleagues will lose their jobs and our department will be de facto dissolved,” the letter said.

Dismay at Senderspitze

The sports editors are appalled that DW’s upper management level rejects any responsibility for the expected large deficit and instead makes the sports editors, whose budget is only six million euros of DW’s total budget of 403 million euros, the scapegoat for the failures of the management . Since at the top of the station “there is no idea of ​​how we actually work; the sports department is an easy target in difficult times”.

However, sport is a geopolitical, social and cultural phenomenon that affects individuals, societies and governments around the world and is therefore not an integral part of the reporting of any serious media company for nothing. “Against this background, the sport shouldn’t fit in with DW’s declared goals and profile? We ask ourselves what then fits in with it.” The “Open Letter” continues. As a result of the cuts, four events of great cultural and social importance that are due in 2024 will be largely ignored: the men’s European Football Championship in Germany, the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris and the men’s Africa Cup of Football in Ivory Coast .

“We urge management to reconsider their decision. In the meantime, we will continue to do the work we are proud of. We will continue this while we are still here.”

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