QuaJou association elects new Co-Presidium and expands the Board of Directors
Alexandra Pavlović and Reto Vogt are taking over as leaders of the Quality in Journalism Association. In addition, four new members are joining the board. Samina Stämpfli will serve as the new administrator.
At the General Assembly of the QuaJou Quality in Journalism Association on Tuesday at the NZZ in Zurich, a new Co-Presidency was elected and the Board was expanded. Alexandra Pavlović and Reto Vogt will jointly head the network, which promotes quality in journalism.
Reto Vogt, Head of Digital Studies at Maz and freelance journalist, has extensive experience in the fields of digital communication, artificial intelligence and journalism. He succeeds Claudia Schlup, also from Maz, who is stepping down from the Board after three years. "I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Board to promote high journalistic quality and actively shape the discourse on the subject," says Vogt about his new role.
Alexandra Pavlović, who has been a member of the QuaJou board since 2024, is Head of Social Media at CH Media and also works as an online daily manager. She has extensive experience in digital journalism. "I'm looking forward to my new role on the board and working with Reto and my new colleagues. With the QuaJou team, I want to continue to contribute to the discussion about quality in journalism and the importance of our profession. Our association should be even more visible to the outside world," says Pavlović.
The term of office of the previous Co-Chair Franz Fischlin and Fabienne Kinzelmann ended after three years. Both did not stand for re-election to the Board for professional and personal reasons and to make room for something new. The QuaJou team thanked them at the AGM for their commitment and their formative work for the network, especially in the challenging years following the pandemic.
New members on the Executive Board
In addition to Reto Vogt, Lena Berger, deputy editor-in-chief of the Observer at Ringier Media Switzerland, Sebastian Dürst, Editorial Director of the Glarus News at the publishing house Somedia, and Michael Burkard, Co-Managing Director of the professional association Impressum.
There has also been a change in the administration of QuaJou: Samina Stämpfli is taking over from Valeria Aiello. As a journalist, Stämpfli brings with her extensive experience from various media, including TX Group, The lamb and Nau Media. Since her return from Colombia, she has been working full-time at Swisscom.
The QuaJou Board is now made up of the Co-Presidium with Alexandra Pavlović and Reto Vogt as well as the Board members Urs Bühler (NZZ, Vice President), Marco Schnurrenberger (SRF, Treasurer), Christian Beck (Personal.com), Lena Berger (Observer), Michael Burkhard (Impressum), Sebastian Dürst (Somedia), Silke Fürst (IKMZ), Eva Pfirter (Keystone-SDA) and Larissa Rhyn (Tamedia). Also working for the QuaJou are Samina Stämpfli (Administration) and Charlotte Widmaier (Project Officer Journalism Day).
Discussion round on local journalism
A guided tour of the NZZ newsroom took place before the official part of the Annual General Meeting. NZZ CEO Felix Graf personally welcomed the attendees to Falkenstrasse 11 in Zurich.
After the AGM, the topic of "Local journalism under pressure" was debated as part of the "Q-Club" discussion. Under the direction of QuaJou board members Alexandra Pavlović and Urs Bühler, Noemi Heule (St. Galler Tagblatt), Fabienne Sennhauser (Tages-Anzeiger), Elio Donauer (Tsüri) and Daniel Fritzsche (NZZ) on current challenges and opportunities in local journalism.
"Good journalism keeps an eye on the powerful - even at local level," Noemi Heule summed it up right at the beginning. However, the current challenges in the media industry do not stop at local journalism. "In recent years, work has been increasingly disturbed by background noise. Fewer and fewer employees have to do more and more," said Fabienne Sennhauser. And yet local journalism has never been as good as it is today.
The work of local journalists has become more exciting in the last 20 years, "because you no longer have to cover every municipal meeting, but can focus on specific topics", says Daniel Fritzsche. A formula for financing journalism does not yet seem to have been found in local journalism either. Elio Donauer said: "A lot is about identification. People think a medium is great and relevant." And that is why there is a willingness to invest in local journalism in the same way as in a Netflix subscription.
