Tamedia admits negligence in case of bullying allegations
After allegations of bullying on the editorial staff of das Magazin came to light, Tamedia's publishing house has admitted that it was negligent. The clarification in the case had taken too long, wrote CEO Andreas Schaffner in a statement to the staff on Sunday.
In a management culture that is expected at the publishing house, such a conflict should not have arisen in the first place, said the letter, which was obtained by the Keystone-SDA news agency. It said the working atmosphere and corporate culture had suffered as a result of the incidents. "We expressly regret this."
The former Magazine-editor Anuschka Roshani had in a guest article in the German magazine The mirror made serious bullying allegations against her former supervisor Finn Canonica on Friday, accusing him of sexism. She accused her ex-employer of inaction. Canonica's lawyer denied all the allegations. The allegations would not be true and vehemently denied.
At Mirror the 56-year-old journalist wrote that she had been a victim of abuse of power for years. Under Canonica, a regime of bullying and sexism had prevailed. He had verbally belittled her. According to her own statements, she turned several times in vain to various internal agencies.
Released at the end of the year
Roshani worked from 2002 to 2022 as an editor at the Magazine of the Zurich-based Tamedia publishing house. She was dismissed at the end of last year. Canonica stood by the magazine, the weekend supplement of the Zurich daily newspaper Tages-Anzeigeras Editor-in-Chief between 2007 and 2022. The publishing house parted company with him last summer.
Among other things, her supervisor called her "the unfucked one," Roshani wrote. If she, as a German, used a word that is unusual in Switzerland, such as Kekse instead of Guetzli, Canonica marked it with a swastika on her manuscript. Corresponding receipts were available to the Mirror according to his testimony. Canonica's lawyer pointed out to the Mirror rejected all accusations.
Roshani sued Tamedia Publishing for breach of duty of care based on sexist discrimination and invalid or abusive termination.
Report: allegations insufficiently substantiated
The Tamedia publishing house had the editor's accusations "carefully examined," as it said in its statement on Sunday. A brief summary of the investigation report by a specialized law firm was made available to employees by the publishing house on Sunday. The report had come to the conclusion that a considerable part of the accusations, in particular the accusation of sexual harassment, could not be confirmed. In general, the allegations were in part insufficiently substantiated.
In 2021, more than 70 female Tamedia journalists - including Roshani - wrote an open letter criticizing a "sexist work culture" at the publishing house with 1800 employees. Women were thwarted, rejected or intimidated, they said. Editor-in-chief Arthur Rutishauser stated at the time that Tamedia tolerates neither harassment nor discrimination. The publisher's most recent statement said it was convinced that the culture had been improved over the past two years. (SDA)
