New paper for disappointed readers

Press The regionalization of 24 Heures
has disappointed a lot of people. Thanks to the new regional newspaper La Région
Nord Vaudois can breathe a sigh of relief. "We were expecting 1000 subscribers in the
month of April. We have already reached 1700!" says Isidore Raposo
beaming. He is 52, founder and boss of the brand new local newspaper La
Région Nord Vaudois. It is aimed at disappointed readers of the
Edipresse newspaper 24 Heures.

Since the beginning of April, La Région Nord Vaudois has been published twice in the
week, once with 5000 copies, once as a litter newspaper with 40000 copies
Edition. The new magazine has between 16 and 32 pages and brings
Exclusively local information, local and regional politics, sports,
club life, agenda. It has the format of a free newspaper and is aimed
is aimed at the population in the northern part of the canton of Vaud from
Yverdon via Grandson to Orbe and Vallorbe and thus to around
100000 inhabitants.

Isidore Raposo is a local. Since the age of eight
he lives in the region. He wrote his first articles at the age of 16.
At 24 Heures, La Suisse, l'Illustré and for seven years as a French-speaking Swiss
correspondent for Blick, he learned the trade from the bottom up. Raposo
is a "localier", a convinced local journalist, first and foremost at the
front, with a direct line to the population. He later became editor-in-chief
of La Presse Nord Vaudois, the local newspaper in the northern part of the
Canton of Vaud. When Edipresse buys the local newspaper and integrates it into the large
new regional newspaper 24 Heures with its four local split editions
he becomes editor-in-chief of the split edition. For just under a year,
Then he throws in the towel in disappointment: "Too little local information, too
a lot of centralization in Lausanne, too much paper in the mailbox of the
readers," is his criticism. For Rebel Raposo, the integration of the
local newspaper into a major regional newspaper failed: "We are in line with the
Wish of disappointed readers of 24 Heures, who want their local newspaper back.
wanted to have."

Locally anchored
The local content corresponds to the local owners: The
The publishing company La Région SA has a share capital of 250000
Swiss francs and is owned by around 40 shareholders from the region. The
The Articles of Association provide for a right of first refusal for the founding members:
"So that the paper remains in the hands of the region and not the same
adventures like other newspapers," says Raposo. The team
consists of two journalists, a trainee and two people in the
in-house advertising department. Not a matter of course for such a
Project: The newspaper pays GAV wages and has a respectable
Budget item provided for freelancers. Despite modest resources
journalistic ambition and works editorially with the
La Liberté in Fribourg: "We take articles from them about
cantonal politics and those of a magazine nature and supply them with
but with our own research from the region." The satirical magazine
Saturne warns the newly minted newspaper makers who, in order to gain subscribers
to win discounted admission to the caves of Vallorbe or the
Bison Park in the Jura Mountains: "Watch out, Isidore!
to such a La Région Nord Vaudois 'young' target audience,
you'll soon be offered the editorship of a senior citizens' magazine!"

Edipresse man Pierre Buntschu, deputy publisher for 24 Heures,
is relaxed. "When a tree gets big, it grows at its foot
new trees," he says with a poetic flourish. The local paper is not a
problem for a large cantonal newspaper like 24 Heures: "We are working
simply not on the same level." Edipresse will work on the concept of
four split issues, but is continuing to work on the planned
Relaunch for the coming fall (see WW 01/06). For once
Raposo, for whom his departure from 24 Heures marked a
year has come to an end, with his ex-employer
agrees: "Our local newspaper is no competition for Edipresse.
We are a niche product."
    

Helen Brügger

Regionalization with discordant tones

For just over a year now, 24 Heures has been published by
Edipresse in four different split editions. The change was the
Merger of the paper with two local newspapers in Yverdon and in
Montreux, Les Presses, preceded it. With regionalization, the
audience, however, was not satisfied. It caused a stir among the target group
This has caused widespread uncertainty.

The readership of the former regional newspaper 24 Heures felt that the
the new split issues are no longer sufficiently covered by the supraregional
informed about events. Readers of the incorporated newspapers, on the other hand, knew
and do not know what they are doing with their extensive split edition of 24
Heures should start.

Last January, Edipresse responded to the dissatisfied readership by
and reorganized the regional bundle of the newspaper and made it clearer.
structured. (rw)