Equipping in the countryside
Regional press The Tages-Anzeiger and three Zurich regional newspapers are preparing for a hot press fall on Lake Zurich.
of the Zürcher Unterländer and the Zürcher Oberländer had already
announced in March that it will cease operations at the beginning of next October.
national editorial offices into a joint editorial team
will merge. The announcement was widely welcomed in the industry as a
direct response to the regional strategy of the Tages-Anzeiger
which is expected to open four new regional editorial offices in the fall.
in the Zurich Oberland and Unterland, on the right bank of the lake and in the city
Zurich. Others are conceivable in the Limmat Valley or
in Winterthur.
The planned cooperation between the three regional newspapers is intended to
"Zurich", "Switzerland and the World", "Economy", "Culture", "Schlusspunkt"
as well as the national sports pages and will be supported by a
produced by an editorial team of around ten people for all three titles.
Those responsible are currently in the process of forming the team. "It
is a difficult process," says Benjamin Geiger, editor-in-chief of the
Zürichsee-Zeitung. The aim is to reach an agreement between equal partners.
to find a common culture.
Cooperation is important for the three partner newspapers - the Landbote in
As is well known, Winterthur became the fourth partner to leave the
Tages-Anzeiger cooperates - not so new. They already print in the
printing center in Oetwil and maintains regular contact with the
Article exchange. The loose cooperation has a certain tradition,
which emerged from the former north-east advertisement combination of the former
The four Zurich regional newspapers have gradually developed into a network.
However, it was only under growing economic pressure and the
strategic changes in the greater Zurich area over the past two
years, an agreement was reached on the planned merger of the
supra-regional departments.
The motivation is not the same for everyone. At the Zurich
Oberländer, the focus is on the offensive of the Tages-Anzeiger, where
the resources saved will be invested practically one-to-one in the
Expanding the regional presence. At the headquarters of the Zürichsee-Zeitung in
Stäfa is more relaxed in this respect: they know the
The competitive situation with the Tagi regional edition on the left bank of the lake is very
exactly. "We are saving money by introducing a joint editorial team under
The bottom line is money," says Geiger. That is why the ZSZ will
savings cannot be fully shifted to the regional section. The cost-cutting exercises
seem necessary, because Lake Zurich is also experiencing a general
the economic upswing in the publishing industry is still in full swing.
has no noticeable impact on the number of advertisements. "The hope,
temporary cuts would be enough, has evaporated," says
Geiger.
Arm yourself against Tamedia and save money
How big is the savings potential? The Unterländer is expected to
the three-person editorial team will be cut, the Oberländer will be
expand its regional and reporter pool and become part of the ZSZ.
some of the 7.5 full-time positions affected to other departments
transferred. "2.5 to 3 jobs will be lost," says Geiger. The
The new editorial team will comprise ten people and will open on October 3.
Start work.
The strategists at Werdstrasse are also in the process of developing four new
regional editorial offices of the flagship Tages-Anzeiger. "We
are in full swing," says Editor-in-Chief Peter Hartmeier. Although
the upswing on the insider side of the first experimental
Tagi regional edition on the left bank of the lake even after a year and a quarter
the Tagi editor-in-chief is satisfied with the
development very satisfied. "The left bank of the lake is our market test.
If we did not measure upward trends, we would not have such large
make investments," he says.
For the implementation of the regional strategy, Tamedia plans to spend just under
under ten million francs. The company had
announced in March that it was creating 65 new jobs and at the same time
to extensively revise the layout of the Tages-Anzeiger.
Hartmeier also confirms some facts: The regional editorial office
for the Zurich Oberland in Uster under the direction of the longtime
Tagi editor Heinz Girschweiler. The editorial team there is
almost completely, the others one third each. On the right bank of the lake
- According to Hartmeier, the Stäfa site would be the most sensible - will
probably Erwin Haas Editorial Director. In the lowlands
Bülach and in the city from Werdstrasse.
According to reports, attempts to poach him from the competition have so far failed.
practically unsuccessful.
Hartmeier is focusing on the catchment areas of the future
Tagi regional editorial offices on continuous development. "We first have to
Prove step by step that we can do what we set out to do.
have undertaken."
Without input from the NZZ
The fact that the three regional newspapers are close to the NZZ has
apparently played no role in their increased cooperation. The NZZ
has a significant stake in the titles via Freie Presse Holding. "The
NZZ does not finance the coat", denies ZSZ editor-in-chief
Benjamin Geiger rumors. The strategists at Falkenstrasse also have
did not provide any input on the cooperation model. On the other hand
be a matter of course that the future editorial team
network of correspondents from the pools of NZZ-affiliated titles, for example from the St.
Galler Tagblatt or the Neue Luzerner Zeitung.
René Worni
