Ringier kisses the frog
It’s clear: Out of the shadows and into the (next) publishing adventure—the timing seems more favorable than ever for a high-end daily newspaper from Switzerland’s largest media company.
Column Out of the dirty corner, into the (next) publishing adventure: The timing seems more favorable than ever for an upmarket daily newspaper from Switzerland's largest media company.The Neue Zeitung project, which the Ringier Board of Directors will decide on this week, is the largest Swiss publishing house's renewed attempt to consolidate its position in the "upmarket reader segment" - whatever one may understand by that. In any case, Blick, although more of a contrast to the Neue Zeitung in journalistic terms, is to be used as an aircraft carrier, which will ensure an enormous distribution performance at low cost, at least in terms of single copy sales. At the same time, this distribution channel opens up nearby readership circles; after all, we have known for years that around one in three Blick readers also regularly access the NZZ. In terms of content, the paper aims to "convey the daily newspaper content from the mindset of the weekly newspaper", as one of the people in charge told me, which is a contemporary approach. Since they can no longer be the first to report breaking news due to television, radio and online media, daily newspapers have had to rely on what could be called "second-tier news": Backgrounds, analyses, commentaries, viewpoints, columns, portraits, forecasts, services, updates. The new paper is therefore forced to arouse interest through the variety of its journalistic forms of presentation. Project manager and former Weltwoche editor-in-chief Rudolf Bächtold is a champion in this discipline.
So there are good reasons for such a newspaper - but why now of all times, in the deepest depression in the industry since the end of the war? With the self-confidence of the strong, Ringier's management should be asking the question the other way round: Why not now? Compared to others, the publishing group is in excellent shape, both economically and structurally. The magazine sector has suffered far less than the extremely cyclical A titles among the daily newspapers, whose advertising business has been hit by the collapse of the management job market, the advertising crisis and the stock market slump.
As a result, the two old arch-rivals Tamedia and NZZ are weaker and easier to attack. The risks for the future also appear to be better distributed at Ringier than at others. The foreign business has become a solid contributor, and none of the care cases, of which there is no shortage in this company either, have the dimensions of a cluster risk. Ringier today benefits from a clever corporate structure that has never lost the balance between the geographical markets, but also between publishing and print, print and new media.
Since decent publishing is never just a strategy game, but always has to do with "soft" factors such as socio-political (self-) commitment and reputation, the old Ringier-specific ambition of wanting to have a say in the serious press may also play a role. However, this distinction alone (elitist = serious, popular = dubious) is based on a doctrinaire and detached view of the world. Defined non-ideologically, respectability today means nothing more than the fulfillment of customer demands while respecting the special constraints inherent in the media industry. This form of quality is possible at any level; some Ringier titles have been proving this for years. What's more, the words of Brecht apply particularly well to Switzerland's largest publishing house: "No one need be ashamed to merely entertain."
If the decision regarding the Neue Zeitung is positive, it is to be hoped that the project will be given the necessary time to mature. However, if the Board of Directors' thumbs were to point downwards, it would not be a tragedy. After all, research and development in this business is based on the principle of "trial and error".
You have to kiss a lot of frogs to meet a prince.
> Karl Lüönd is a journalist and head of the Media Institute of the Swiss Press Association.
So there are good reasons for such a newspaper - but why now of all times, in the deepest depression in the industry since the end of the war? With the self-confidence of the strong, Ringier's management should be asking the question the other way round: Why not now? Compared to others, the publishing group is in excellent shape, both economically and structurally. The magazine sector has suffered far less than the extremely cyclical A titles among the daily newspapers, whose advertising business has been hit by the collapse of the management job market, the advertising crisis and the stock market slump.
As a result, the two old arch-rivals Tamedia and NZZ are weaker and easier to attack. The risks for the future also appear to be better distributed at Ringier than at others. The foreign business has become a solid contributor, and none of the care cases, of which there is no shortage in this company either, have the dimensions of a cluster risk. Ringier today benefits from a clever corporate structure that has never lost the balance between the geographical markets, but also between publishing and print, print and new media.
Since decent publishing is never just a strategy game, but always has to do with "soft" factors such as socio-political (self-) commitment and reputation, the old Ringier-specific ambition of wanting to have a say in the serious press may also play a role. However, this distinction alone (elitist = serious, popular = dubious) is based on a doctrinaire and detached view of the world. Defined non-ideologically, respectability today means nothing more than the fulfillment of customer demands while respecting the special constraints inherent in the media industry. This form of quality is possible at any level; some Ringier titles have been proving this for years. What's more, the words of Brecht apply particularly well to Switzerland's largest publishing house: "No one need be ashamed to merely entertain."
If the decision regarding the Neue Zeitung is positive, it is to be hoped that the project will be given the necessary time to mature. However, if the Board of Directors' thumbs were to point downwards, it would not be a tragedy. After all, research and development in this business is based on the principle of "trial and error".
You have to kiss a lot of frogs to meet a prince.
> Karl Lüönd is a journalist and head of the Media Institute of the Swiss Press Association.
