SME publishers try to help themselves
Publishers: Small publishers want to support one another and collaborate through a service-oriented limited liability company (GmbH). They also plan to share resources.
Publishers Small publishers want to support each other and cooperate in a service company. In times of structural change in the media business, which print media in particular are feeling the effects of, ideas are sprouting up. Now small and medium-sized publishing houses want to join forces in a new service organization, which they will set up this autumn. Helping people to help themselves is the motto. The limited company called Netz.lokalpresse.ch is to become a hub for SME publishers who want to help each other out when needed and share their resources. The initial focus is on the various forms of cooperation, be it in the printing sector, be it at editorial level, for example in the exchange of journalistic articles, be it in pre-press, in the IT sector, in distribution, in the training of young talent through to the acquisition of advertisements, in the event of staff shortages and even in solving succession problems. "The network should be an entrepreneurially run business," says Guido Blumer, the busy publisher of the Winterthur Stadtblatt.
The GmbH does not simply want to be an additional association for small publishers, possibly in competition with the long-established Swiss Press Association. The latter will continue to protect interests at a political level and in industry matters, for example with regard to indirect press subsidies, VAT and other professional and association policy issues. There could be overlaps in the legal and marketing areas, but solutions already seem to be emerging.
According to Blumer, however, the reduction in indirect press subsidies by parliament this summer has not led to a split between the small publishers who continue to receive subsidies and the large publishers who are left empty-handed. For Blumer, the new regulation, which he interprets as support for a partially liberalized postal service, is almost inexplicable. There is a lot of solidarity among all publishers on this issue. "It's the first time that the big publishers have stood up for us," he says.
There is a great deal of interestBlumer has identified around 70 potential members and is doing the groundwork together with media lawyer Franz A. Zölch. "The interest has been there for a long time," says Blumer and is occasionally surprised that publishers contact him that he didn't even know existed. The aim is for SME publishers to also become members of the Swiss Press Association as shareholders of Netz.lokalpresse.ch.
The organization is tailored to the needs of small publishing houses, Blumer illustrates with an example: "If a member of the editorial team falls ill, this can become a problem in a small company." Often little is needed. Offers of help from large publishing houses, which according to Blumer have been made time and again, go too far. Nevertheless, Falkenstrasse is also interested in the activities of SME publishers, which is in line with the NZZ credo of strengthening the local and regional press.
On 5 September, Blumer and Zölch plan to launch their network on the web and thus make the further development of the organization accessible to a wider circle of interested parties. The supreme body will be the company assembly, which will be strategically managed by a seven-member honorary board. The creators want to set up a professional office for the operational business.
René Worni
The GmbH does not simply want to be an additional association for small publishers, possibly in competition with the long-established Swiss Press Association. The latter will continue to protect interests at a political level and in industry matters, for example with regard to indirect press subsidies, VAT and other professional and association policy issues. There could be overlaps in the legal and marketing areas, but solutions already seem to be emerging.
According to Blumer, however, the reduction in indirect press subsidies by parliament this summer has not led to a split between the small publishers who continue to receive subsidies and the large publishers who are left empty-handed. For Blumer, the new regulation, which he interprets as support for a partially liberalized postal service, is almost inexplicable. There is a lot of solidarity among all publishers on this issue. "It's the first time that the big publishers have stood up for us," he says.
There is a great deal of interestBlumer has identified around 70 potential members and is doing the groundwork together with media lawyer Franz A. Zölch. "The interest has been there for a long time," says Blumer and is occasionally surprised that publishers contact him that he didn't even know existed. The aim is for SME publishers to also become members of the Swiss Press Association as shareholders of Netz.lokalpresse.ch.
The organization is tailored to the needs of small publishing houses, Blumer illustrates with an example: "If a member of the editorial team falls ill, this can become a problem in a small company." Often little is needed. Offers of help from large publishing houses, which according to Blumer have been made time and again, go too far. Nevertheless, Falkenstrasse is also interested in the activities of SME publishers, which is in line with the NZZ credo of strengthening the local and regional press.
On 5 September, Blumer and Zölch plan to launch their network on the web and thus make the further development of the organization accessible to a wider circle of interested parties. The supreme body will be the company assembly, which will be strategically managed by a seven-member honorary board. The creators want to set up a professional office for the operational business.
René Worni
