Destabilization
René Worni on publishing influence.
Once again, publisher president Hanspeter Lebrument caused a furor at the Publishers' Congress. He fired a broadside against the "Declaration of Duties and Rights of Journalists". It is unacceptable that journalists are not also obliged to their employers, the president implored the dismayed audience and announced that now that the publishers were also on the Press Council, he wanted to amend the declaration. They, who had already been ignored when the paper was written in the early 1980s, were to be granted more rights. Hardly anyone in the room really understood what the President was actually talking about.
The preamble to the declaration already contains the sweaty sentence: "The responsibility of journalists to the public takes precedence over any other, in particular their responsibility to their employers and to state bodies." It is clear that entrepreneur Lebrument does not like such independence. And it makes him (and many of his publishing colleagues) red in the face when he realizes that the expensive print journalism with quality standards, which is the main focus of the declaration, is selling less and less.
Radio, television, the internet and even the free press are more relaxed and seem to be less blocked by ethical concerns. It is somehow understandable that someone, in sheer desperation over the declining reach of the daily press, wants to assert his entrepreneurial influence so that journalism can be sold more easily again. But at the latest when editorial staff and publishers (i.e. sales) plan articles together at the round table, journalistic thinking is destabilized to such an extent that no one will be interested in such content, let alone pay for it.
The preamble to the declaration already contains the sweaty sentence: "The responsibility of journalists to the public takes precedence over any other, in particular their responsibility to their employers and to state bodies." It is clear that entrepreneur Lebrument does not like such independence. And it makes him (and many of his publishing colleagues) red in the face when he realizes that the expensive print journalism with quality standards, which is the main focus of the declaration, is selling less and less.
Radio, television, the internet and even the free press are more relaxed and seem to be less blocked by ethical concerns. It is somehow understandable that someone, in sheer desperation over the declining reach of the daily press, wants to assert his entrepreneurial influence so that journalism can be sold more easily again. But at the latest when editorial staff and publishers (i.e. sales) plan articles together at the round table, journalistic thinking is destabilized to such an extent that no one will be interested in such content, let alone pay for it.
