Construction site or cash cow?

 
Regional press The Basellandschaftliche Zeitung is a construction site, said Peter Wanner. AZ Medien is playing it down. 
Last December, AZ Medien acquired the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung (bz). Half a year later, AZ Medien boss Peter Wanner is obviously having stomach pains with the paper in Liestal. At any rate, in an interview in his own Aargauer Zeitung on May 7, he did not exactly speak flatteringly of his latest acquisition. He described the bz as one of the four group-wide "construction sites" that had brought AZ Medien a merely "mixed result in 2007". The statement is astonishing, as there is nothing to suggest that the bz is a construction site that is also a burden on the Group result. Of course the bz is also losing readers and circulation - but not excessively. And it is not even doing badly in terms of advertising. According to VSW advertising statistics, it grew by 13.2 percent in the first quarter of 2008 compared to the same period last year - making it the second-best growth rate among the titles in the Mittelland-Zeitung (MZ) network, just behind the Olten Tagblatt (+14.7 percent). Of course, a large part of this is due to the newly launched Sonntag. But the latter has benefited all MZ partners in terms of volume. Nevertheless, Solothurner Zeitung (SZ), and above all Zofinger Tagblatt (ZT) and Aargauer Zeitung (AZ) are considerably weaker. While the SZ still achieved an increase in advertising of 7 percent, the ZT and AZ were clearly in negative territory in the first quarter of 2008 with minus 16.7 and minus 19.1 percent respectively. In view of these figures, is it not presumptuous to speak of the bz as a construction site?
Peter Wanner could not be reached for a direct comment, but Head of Communications Eva Keller responded in his place. "The term 'construction site' is meant in the sense that we are analyzing internal processes at all levels of bz. The aim is to increase earnings by exploiting synergies." The operational management has been strengthened since the beginning of the year with Sabine Galindo as Publishing Director and Urs Lüdi as Managing Director. In addition, the company is currently examining whether the bz layout should be aligned with that of the MZ. However, nothing has been decided yet. What is clear, however, is that Keller prefers to use the terms "renovation, modernization, further development" instead of "construction site".
And what is the reaction in Liestal? bz publisher Mathis Lüdin (63), still Chairman of the Board of Directors of Basellandschaftliche Zeitung AG, laughs at Wanner's statement. "I can live with that," he says. There is always room for improvement. He admits that reader marketing has "fallen a little short" since joining the MZ and launching the Sunday edition. "With the call center in Aarau, we can now follow up professionally when subscribers cancel or after a trial subscription expires." He is pleased that he was relieved of his operational duties earlier than planned. "This allows me to keep an eye on things in the print shop, which still belongs to our family." Following the death of his brother Alex in March of this year, a succession plan now needs to be put in place. But the bz itself, says Lüdin, is doing well in the market. Around half of the advertising growth in the first quarter came from the local market, with the rest coming from Sonntag. Speaking of Sunday: "The additional costs are affecting everyone, but here too the advertisements are above budget," says Lüdin.
Markus Knöpfli