Portuguese media company Medialivre, of which footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is the largest shareholder, will lay off a number of its journalists — according to the national union of media workers.
So far, 10 staff members have been informed that they will lose their jobs, Vitor Mota, a photojournalist at Medialivre and a union representative, told Euronews.
Mota, who is set to lose his job, said that the 10 individuals were handed a notice letter on Wednesday afternoon, the day before Labour Day in many European countries.
Mota noted that the announced cuts currently affect eight permanent photojournalists at Medialivre’s headquarters in Lisbon and two permanent writers in the Porto division.
A statement from the Portuguese Journalists’ Union suggests that the job cuts may be more widespread, although Mota noted that it is still too early to say this with certainty.
He noted that the union will contest the 10 job cuts that have already been announced. The affected journalists will have to work until the legal logistics of the layoffs are finalised.
Medialivre counts around 730 staff in total and roughly 300 of these employees are journalists.
“The Journalists’ Union has learned, with surprise and shock, of Medialivre’s intention to carry out a mass layoff, focusing on photojournalists, which will reduce the number of employees in publications such as Correio da Manhã, Record, Jornal de Negócios and the magazine Sábado,” the union said in a statement released on Wednesday.
“Announcing a mass layoff on the eve of Labour Day, which is a global landmark for past labour achievements that are increasingly deteriorating, is unacceptable,” the group added.
Mota, who has worked with Medialivre since 2004, said that the company is seeking to use more “video grabs, company images, and citizen journalism”, instead of relying on in-house photojournalists.
“We can see that they want to cut jobs just to save money,” he told Euronews, “but it’s our view that a media company that has to rely on free photography loses its independence”.
The Portuguese Journalists’ Union organised a demonstration in Lisbon on Thursday afternoon in solidarity with Medialivre staff.
In relation to the job cuts, the group criticised the Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, who currently holds a 30% share in Medialivre.
“It is regrettable that Ronaldo (whose salary, according to Forbes magazine, was worth over €250 million last year) bought a significant part of the company in order to then allow layoffs to be carried out,” the union said in a statement.
As well as publishing newspapers Correio da Manhã, Record, Jornal de Negócios and the magazine Sábado, Medialivre also owns the TV channel NOW.
Medialivre has not yet responded to Euronews’ request for comment.
