Print or online? Both!

 
Media Days Munich Publishers have not given up their business in the face of Web 2.0. 
At this year's major event for the German-speaking media industry, the Munich Media Days, the guests were once again predominantly dressed in black. However, there were slightly more splashes of color this year compared to last year. This could be taken as an indication that many media entrepreneurs no longer see the media world, which has been shaken up by the Internet, as black as they did last November. This was the tenor agreed at the Print Summit, the publishers' elephant round table. The information market on the web is now clearly dominated by publishers, said Welt editor-in-chief Christoph Keese. Apart from the exchange of blows between private and public TV broadcasters over the expansion of their Internet offerings, to which the accompanying media devoted prominent headlines, the wealth of around 100 panels, elephant rounds and side events from all sectors offered one or two discussions that deserve a closer look here. 
How are (print) publishers, for example, dealing with digitization? Tom Turcan, General Manager Digital at the Guardian, explained the numerous functional possibilities of its website "Guardian unlimited" as an example of the extremely successful integration of content into the Internet. The Guardian was one of the first flagships of the British press to massively slim down its paper and switch to a compact format. In Munich, Turcan was able to present the impressive total audience of 18 million users of the Guardian brand as a result of his company's online offensive. It goes without saying that a print title cannibalizes itself with this strategy. "You have to accept that in favor of additional advertising revenue," said Peter Würtenberger, publishing director at Welt and Berliner Morgenpost. Würtenberger, on the other hand, warned against a super hype on the Internet in view of the still low revenues. Apparently, publishers are being tempted by successful sites such as YouTube or MyVideo to create their own brand extensions on the Internet, which may not fit the brand core at all. Not everyone needs their own dating platform, Würtenberger warned. As an English-language product, the Guardian benefits from a global focus, where German-language media have a comparatively difficult time. After all, German regional publishers already have a lot to show for themselves. Rheinische Post, for example, has massively expanded its opinion leadership in its catchment area with its online offering. "Online also offers the opportunity to attract national attention," said Oliver Eckert, Managing Director of RP online.
Newspapers are moving sidewaysThe publisher Eugen A. Russ from Vorarlberg is probably pursuing the most radical approach on the web. Russ has practically downgraded the print edition of his Vorarlberger Nachrichten, or rather spun it off, because the integration of online has not worked and because the Internet is by far the dominant business segment of his company. "Newspapers are losing ground, they are moving sideways, so we have to tap into new sources of revenue." With a comprehensive online offering that provides content for practically all aspects of everyday life in Vorarlberg, he achieves a reach of over 90 percent among 14 to 19-year-olds. Russ has thus also beaten Google. The actual newspaper uses the online platform like an agency. Russ focuses his media on an approximate audience radius of 25 kilometers on average. His MoJos, the mobile journalists, as well as a proud series of private content suppliers operate within this circle, following American models.
The question of what users ultimately want and whether this should be a service like the one in Vorarlberg was met with contradictory answers from the panel. Annik Rubens, alias Larissa Vassilian, one of the icons of the German audio podcast scene with "Schlaflos in München" (Sleepless in Munich), said that publishers were still being all too stepmotherly with their websites and putting superfluous videos online just to get in on the current trend. Vassilian himself has long ignored the expectations of users. "I do what I enjoy, and that is transferred to the audience." Frank Thomsen, editor-in-chief of stern.de, on the other hand, spoke out in favor of unconditional quality journalism on the web. Stefan Herbst, editor-in-chief of the Saarbrücker Zeitung, advocated diversity and wanted to use the reader as a source. This has already led to stories and images that would otherwise not have been available.
René Worni