our media project is over!
CNNMoney Switzerland is filing for insolvency. 25 employees loose their jobs. Those were the headlines on Monday evening after the press release went out.
We were informed only 30min prior to the press release. I was getting messages while still being in that meeting. LinkedIn notifications, mentions on Twitter, whatsapp messages. I was overwhelmed, but wow, what a wave of support!
I am still overwhelmed as I am writing this. The first few days, I could barely focus. With all the messages, headlines and paperwork to do, there’s little time to disgest what happened. I still need to clear my mind, digest the shock before figuring out what’s next. After all, this was more than just a job.
How it all started
Being part of CNNMoney Switzerland from day 1 was being part of a vision, of a family and a place where I could pursue my passion, learn and go through all the ups and downs.
I remember the first day on July 3, 2017 when I entered the office and all there was, was a big meeting table and so many new faces. How exciting!
The space, where our studio was going to be, was a construction site. We had a few months before we went on air. And during this time we bonded. We visited the CNN International newsroom in London, and I remember Christiane Amanpour passing by me. I just looked at her and we smiled at each other.
At CNN International in London in 2017 with journalist Paula Dupraz-Dobias, producer Leesa Gilmore, journalist Eleonore Payro, me, and Delia Collardi.
A few weeks later we went to New York and had workshops with Richard Quest. I mean, Richard Quest! He’s the reason why I wanted to work for CNN: I love his style of entertaining the audience, but knowing when he needs to be serious, too.
Workshop with CNN’s Richard Quest in New York. In the picture from left to right: Sarah Chiarello, Sebastien Chastellain, Roberto Cancellara, me, Christophe Rash, Eléonore Payro, Ana Maria Montero, Frédéric Lelièvre, Urs Gredig.
Click on the images below to see the full gallery (Photos by Valeriano di Domenico).
Sarah Chiarello, Paula Dupraz-Dobias, Richard Quest, Olivia Chang, Eléonore Payro, Jan Schwalbe and me.
Some of the team of CNNMoney Switzerland on a studio tour at CNN in New York in 2017.
Hannah Wise being funny ;)
The CNNMoney Switzerland team in New York in 2017.
And I was so lucky when I bumped into him this year at the WEF in Davos and recorded this fun video:
It was such an amazing feeling being part of this project. And being part from the start, shape the channel and see how it evolves was the best thing that could have happend in my professional career so far.
In the beginning we were given the task of creating a 3 hour live program out of nothing. Within the team we brainstormed and came up with a grid. Our first Editor-in-Chief was Urs Gredig and his deputy was Frédéric Lélièvre.
In the meantime our Senior Producer, Jan Schwalbe left because he got a great offer to become the Editor-in-Chief of Finanz und Wirtschaft. This was a blow for me, as he was a great leader. Andreas Schaffner joined then as Senior Producer.
I had the task of creating videos for our social media platforms, mainly Facebook in the beginning. And I basically had a carte blanche and could experiement. Cameramann Roberto Cancellara and I asked if we could go to Venice, as I was offered an interview with Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei at the Venice Film Biennale. That was such a great trip! We worked hard. But when you’re doing what you love, working feels good and you feel acomplished even if you were on your feet for 14 hours. We filmed a behind the scenes in Venice, the actual interview with Ai Weiwei and we visited the Swiss Pavilion at the Biennale and spoke with Sandi Paucic of Pro Helvetia for a story on their tribute to Alberto Giacometti in just 2.5 days!
There were many ups and downs, but I sticked throughout the end. Some of my closest colleagues left the company after one year, which made me sad. The work was put on the rest of the team. We had to manage to produce a certain amount of content. There were moments we decided to reduce a program or to have one guest and do a longer interview and air parts of that interview on several days. Then the decision was taken that it actually doesn’t matter, because the audience won’t notice a shorter program. After all, who of you still watches linear TV? Nowadays everything is on demand. So if it’s available, people might watch. If it’s not, they won’t really notice.
With Andreas Schaffner, who took over as Editor-in-Chief when Urs Gredig left, and Hannah Wise at the Swiss Economic Forum 2018.
I was appointed Head of Digital/ Digital Producer. I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to lead the team, as I thought I prefer to just focus on my work. But I saw it as a challenge and took it. I prepared a digital workshop and I remember standing in front of the team and suddendly I was all in, giving a speech on why we need to change the things we do, and that we all should be more proactive and can use our own social media channels to tell stories. After that workshop Hannah Wise started doing regular clips on LinkedIn with her smartphone, giving a behind the scenes perspective of her work.
When people ask me what my job at CNNMoney Switzerland was, I say «I did everything.» From the outside one might see me on camera, presenting and conducting interviews. But the pre-and post-production of most of my videos was done by me, too. Besides having my own format on the business of arts and culture «Out & About», I also still took care of uploading the content to our website and social media platforms, deciding when we post what. Very rarely I would even film my own packages.
When interviewing Dieter Meier for our first summer series in 2018.
But because images are sometimes stronger than words, I leave you here with some impressions and a youtube playlist with my best-of stories at CNNMoney Switzerland.
And on that note, I’d like to thank my colleagues for sticking together until the end. There are so many talented people out there. So if you’re looking for great cameramen, technicians, multimedia journalists, producers, media asset managers, digital managers, (copy) writers or make-up artists, let me know! I am happy to recommend.
Recording an interview for my show «Out & About».
After interviewing Ai Weiwei for my program «Out & About» on the business of arts and culture in 2019.
Producing a story on the launch of the Swiss Startup Guide, here speaking to Christoph Birkholz.
With American artists Adam Pendleton and Pope L. after interviewing them for my story on African-American artists at Galerie Eva Presenhuber in Zurich.
With Richard Quest in the «Quest means Business» studio in New York City in 2017.
Our last christmas party in December 2019!
At the Europa Forum Luzern with Roberto Cancellara, Ana Maria Montero, Andreas Schaffner, Greta Ruffino and Jeanne du Sartel.
My first live guest appearance in Hannah’s show to talk about my story on Christie’s Swiss art auction.
Our last Editor-in-Chief, Patrizia Laeri, who joined two months before the channel shut down. I wished she had been part of the team earlier on.