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Week of June 24, 2019

Publisher explains journalists role in business plan: none
"Buy cheap. As simple as that"

A wary eye is often cast by media workers when a private equity investor takes a major stake in their employer. The expectation, understandably, is that changes will soon be on the way and not necessarily nice ones from their perspective. OK, it is true that a new perspective can be beneficial. That is not, however, the common experience.

This week the principal owner and chief executive of Sweden’s free-sheet Metro, Christian Ager-Hanssen, set the media sphere spinning. “Journalists do not fit into our business plan,” he said to daily Expressen (June 25). “Our strategy is not to run the business with employed journalists. We will be a modern company that buys content. As simple as that. Buy cheap and good.” In March he announced a restructuring of Metro. The article said Metro employees had not received salary transfers due on the 25th of the month, which were paid after the article hit.

Always the colorful investor, Mr. Ager-Hanssen acquired Metro from Swedish media investor Kinnevik in 2017 with a partner then bought out the partner. He has owned a budget airline and other stuff. When UK publisher Johnston Press was about to go under, he raised his stake. Then he complained when the rest of the board did not go along with his plan to turn the publisher into a press release distribution network, also without journalists. Other than that, he likes to water ski. (See more about private equity here)

Nobody with the Swedish Journalists Union (SJF) heard anything more than what they read in the Expressen interview. “It is sad,” said SJF lawyer Katarina Dahlskog to media news portal medievarlden.se (June 25). She said any change in the employment structure would violate the recently negotiated agreement between Metro and the union. (See more about media in Sweden here)

Meanwhile, Mr. Ager-Hanssen has gone on a rage about the Expressen interview, reporter Leif Brännström and, then, publisher Bonnier. “When I talk about fake news, I talk about Expressen writing an article that we have not paid the wages,” said Mr. Ager-Hanssen to Dagens Media (June 26). “In my world, it is an abuse of power by Bonnier to dictate news that does not exist.” He did confirm the “recommendation” to not employ journalists.

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