Mediaworks makes offer to Népszabadság staff

Budapest (MTI) – Mediaworks, the publisher of Hungarian daily Népszabadság, said late Saturday that it had made an offer to the paper’s editorial staff.

The sides agreed to start talks with the involvement of the union and the work council, the publisher said.

Mediaworks’ management on Saturday initiated talks on Népszabadság’s suspension and relaunch with editor-in-chief András Murányi to start immediately. The publisher offered to negotiate on the paper’s financing and publication if its editorial staff can bring a strategy and business plan to the table that ensures the profitable operation of the paper in the long term.

Mediaworks noted that the editorial staff had stated they were firmly committed to “staying together to produce only the same independent professional quality they have until now”. The sides will discuss further whether this is possible and in which form, Mediaworks said.

Mediaworks said earlier on Saturday it was suspending publication of the newspaper to focus on shaping a new business model. The paper’s circulation has dropped 74 percent while it has racked up more than 5 billion forints (EUR 16.4m) in losses over the last ten years, Mediaworks noted.

Source: MTI