Désirée Pomper becomes editor-in-chief of 20 Minuten

Management handover in the editorial department of 20 minutesDésirée Pomper will take up the position of Editor-in-Chief on February 1, 2023 and will thus join the Executive Board of 20 minutesaccording to an announcement by TX Group on Thursday morning. Gaudenz Looser will take over the position as deputy editor-in-chief. In the future, he will act as the paper's editor and will again be increasingly responsible for day-to-day business.

"Désirée Pomper and Gaudenz Looser have enjoyed a successful collaboration for many years, which will continue uninterrupted in the new constellation," Bernhard Brechbühl, Managing Director of 20 minutes, quoted in the release. "We are delighted that Gaudenz Looser will continue to bring his innovative strength and great expertise to our journalistic offering. And that with Désirée Pomper we have a very competent and creative new editor-in-chief, who has already enriched our media brand with her journalistic know-how for many years and is taking it forward strategically."

The change in leadership was made on Looser's initiative: "The fact that Désirée Pomper is taking on the role of Editor-in-Chief is an expression of strong personnel development: Our employees are consistently promoted and prepared for the next career step."

Pomper started her career in 2009 at 20 minutes as domestic editor. Since then, she has held various positions, including head of the politics, reporter and society departments. The 38-year-old founded the Video/Story department in 2019 and developed numerous video formats. This resulted in the documentary and feature film "Do You Remember Me?" about female circumcision, which she produced together with video journalists Helena Müller and Murat Temel, as well as the accompanying book "Me, the Fighter," which she ghostwrote.

Most recently, Désirée Pomper spearheaded the conception and implementation of the social media-first strategy (Werbewoche.ch reported).

She earned her master's degree in international relations from the Graduate Institute of International Studies HEI in Geneva. In 2014, she completed advanced training in investigative journalism at Columbia University in New York.

Gaudenz Looser took over the editorship of 20 minutes Mid 2019 (Werbewoche.ch reported). During his tenure, he has, among other things, developed the video strategy of 20 minutes advanced and the format 20 minutes Now! was launched. Later, together with Désirée Pomper and the product and social media teams, he drove the social media-first strategy. He also positioned the free medium as an effective authority in the fight against fake news with consistent factchecking. The replacement of Keystone SDA's services by the internal Video & Photo Agency, which was set up specifically for this purpose, also fell within his remit. In addition, Looser helped establish the Social Responsibility Boards, a solution to promote inclusive, non-injurious language and reporting.