Less Zurich localism
Op-Ed: The fifth Sunday newspaper comes from Aargau. That’s its advantage, says Christoph Grenacher.
Guest commentary The fifth Sunday newspaper comes from Aargau. That's its plus point, says Christoph Grenacher, and the praise came from the east: "Thank you, dear people of Aargau." It wasn't for the moated castle, the energy canton, Feldschlösschen, Rüebli or the highway maintenance service. The thanks were for the Badenfahrt 2007, a ten-day festival with a little parade, special festival beer, a million visitors and the motto "World instead of Baden". "All the Züri-Fäscht, Street Parade, Dörflifäscht, Langstrassenfäscht and all the Hundsverlochete organizers in the city of Zurich can take a leaf out of their book," grumbled the laudator in the Zurich online service Ronorp. The test follows. AZ-Medien publisher Peter Wanner launches his Sunday newspaper - from Zurich's perspective in the front garden of the Swiss Desperate Housewives: in the Mittelland, a horrible hinterland for media specialists anyway. For them, the sun sets in the west; the rest is dark. But the future lives in Zurich.
That's why, as the chronicler hears these days from specialists in the media metropolis of Zurich, the matter is clear: no chance for the new child, no room for a new competitor, no money for campaigns in a provincial paper for the Limmat Valley, Aargau, Solothurn, the Basel region and perhaps soon also Central Switzerland. And anyway: what can they do there, in the West? A role model? I where!
But whoops: the new Sunday newspaper from Baden already has a total circulation of over 21,000 copies at its launch - that's already a good 10,000 copies more than the SonntagsZeitung. Come on, say the experts from the media city of Zurich, people in the Mittelland are only mediocre - if that: frustrated wives, overburdened fathers, small animal breeders, FC Aarau or EHC Olten fans and gas station shoppers. The best thing in the west, they moan, is the highway to Zurich.
But hello: the highway also has an opposite direction. It leads to the world instead of Zurich. The agglomeration settler has long since realized this. He settles along this main traffic axis, saves taxes and has space, and he doesn't have to buy a book to explain to his children what a cow is. Here, the air still smells good, Sundays are fun and life is full and largely free of dumpfis and stumpfis.
That's why, as the chronicler hears these days from specialists in the media metropolis of Zurich, the matter is clear: no chance for the new child, no room for a new competitor, no money for campaigns in a provincial paper for the Limmat Valley, Aargau, Solothurn, the Basel region and perhaps soon also Central Switzerland. And anyway: what can they do there, in the West? A role model? I where!
But whoops: the new Sunday newspaper from Baden already has a total circulation of over 21,000 copies at its launch - that's already a good 10,000 copies more than the SonntagsZeitung. Come on, say the experts from the media city of Zurich, people in the Mittelland are only mediocre - if that: frustrated wives, overburdened fathers, small animal breeders, FC Aarau or EHC Olten fans and gas station shoppers. The best thing in the west, they moan, is the highway to Zurich.
But hello: the highway also has an opposite direction. It leads to the world instead of Zurich. The agglomeration settler has long since realized this. He settles along this main traffic axis, saves taxes and has space, and he doesn't have to buy a book to explain to his children what a cow is. Here, the air still smells good, Sundays are fun and life is full and largely free of dumpfis and stumpfis.
The new product is therefore no particular challenge for its midwife - even if it has the simple grace of not being produced in Zurich. Sonntag editor-in-chief Patrik Müller is almost flirtatious, pointing to the special journalistic perspective on the course of events when the view of the world is not directed from Zurich. And the fact that the youngster has filled almost half of the editorial positions with women can only serve to add to the Sunday variety.
So in future there will be a little less Zurich localism on Sundays. But a little more world instead of Baden. Hopefully.
> Christoph Grenacher was most recently editor-in-chief of the SonntagsBlick.
He is currently building up his own company in the field of communication.
