Springerization
Comment by René Worni on trustworthy publishing partners.
Commentary by René Worni on trustworthy publishing partners After the German Axel Springer Group announced the purchase of Jean Frey Verlag shortly before Christmas, the media remained surprisingly quiet. Critical words were completely absent from the usual reporting. How can this be explained? Until the 1990s, the name Axel Springer was still synonymous with sensationalist tabloid and checkbook journalism, such as Bild, the company's flagship, always practiced on the fringes of legality. Generations had absorbed Heinrich Böll's lost honor of Katharina Blum or Günter Wallraff's front-page reports of the editorial horror at Bild with their mother's milk or enjoyed them as compulsory reading at secondary schools at the latest. Bild reporters were bloodhounds and would walk over dead bodies to get their stories.
It remains to be seen whether this is still the case at Bild today, otherwise the world has become a different place and the once self-evident defensive reflex against the German group has apparently had its day. It has managed to draw a line under the past, not least thanks to the rapprochement between CEO Döpfner and Bild's eternal denier, Günter Grass.
The takeover of Jean Frey Verlag by the Germans brought to mind that the Group, as owner of the Handelszeitungs Group, had already been operating discreetly in Switzerland since 1999 and had the financial resources to reshuffle the cards in the Swiss market. Back in 1992, Ringier almost merged with the German Axel Springer publishing house.
Local publishers are increasingly flirting with state subsidies, said Hanspeter Lebrument at the Epiphany Conference (the publisher president should take his own nose to the grindstone). Publishers such as Axel Springer, which are committed to the Anglo-Saxon tradition of media independence, are therefore seen as more trustworthy partners in Switzerland. In this respect, the group is welcome here in Switzerland. The further Springerization of the Swiss media landscape is merely a question of opportunities arising.
René Worni, Editor
It remains to be seen whether this is still the case at Bild today, otherwise the world has become a different place and the once self-evident defensive reflex against the German group has apparently had its day. It has managed to draw a line under the past, not least thanks to the rapprochement between CEO Döpfner and Bild's eternal denier, Günter Grass.
The takeover of Jean Frey Verlag by the Germans brought to mind that the Group, as owner of the Handelszeitungs Group, had already been operating discreetly in Switzerland since 1999 and had the financial resources to reshuffle the cards in the Swiss market. Back in 1992, Ringier almost merged with the German Axel Springer publishing house.
Local publishers are increasingly flirting with state subsidies, said Hanspeter Lebrument at the Epiphany Conference (the publisher president should take his own nose to the grindstone). Publishers such as Axel Springer, which are committed to the Anglo-Saxon tradition of media independence, are therefore seen as more trustworthy partners in Switzerland. In this respect, the group is welcome here in Switzerland. The further Springerization of the Swiss media landscape is merely a question of opportunities arising.
René Worni, Editor
