Bread and butter and whip
It’s worth noting that the national «quality press» is well-suited for the future and, moreover, indispensable to society’s intellectual life. The problem isn’t the business models of the FAZ, NZZ, and others, but rather their managers.
Column The national "quality press" is fit for the future and also indispensable for society's intellectual life. The problem is not the business models of FAZ, NZZ and Co. but their managers.
Reduce the company to its core competencies" is a famous standard demand of analysts. Siemens CEO Heinrich von Pierer occasionally remarks dryly that he would have gone bankrupt long ago if he had followed such demands. Financial circles have repeatedly advised him to sell off parts of the company that have since become highly lucrative again, so the fine line about "core competencies" is not a patent remedy. However, it would have been worthwhile for some publishing houses to concentrate more on what they are really good at. Large quality newspapers are currently fighting for their lives. The Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) first cut its youth supplement, then its capital city page and finally its supplement for North Rhine-Westphalia. The Frankfurter Allgemeine has also discontinued its Berlin pages. The Frankfurter Rundschau recently had to apply for a state guarantee, and even the Neue Zürcher Zeitung found itself forced to take on a lot of work.
forced to cut costs. If the business model
of the national quality newspaper on the brink of collapse? The SZ editorial team fears this and, in protest, has canceled the traditional "Streiflicht" on page one for the first time and replaced it with a reference to its own crisis.
So it's high time for tried and tested home remedies. Claus Strunz, editor-in-chief of Bild am Sonntag, recommends increasing the subscription price in the face of falling advertising. Publishing managers say that a quality newspaper should cost as much as a cup of coffee. That sounds plausible, but will further reduce circulation. Even the cool cost-cutters are taking a risky approach. Cutting Sunday supplements, magazines and media pages reduces the universality of the respective paper and not only drives down costs, but also readers.
The difference between traditional regional newspapers and the national paper is precisely their cultural, economic and international added value. People prefer the national to the local paper because it contains an essay by Arundathi Roy, a polemic by Adolf Muschg or an analysis of Microsoft. But for such pieces you need
financial and intellectual resources. The quality newspaper determines the intellectual scope of a country's elites; not alone, but to a considerable extent. Anyone who sacrifices the business model of the national quality newspaper is therefore shaking the ability of an entire society to satisfy itself.
Quality newspapers are endangered by peripheral activities such as wickedly expensive internet presences, unsuccessful TV experiments, bought-in specialist publishers, etc. Added to this, however, is the huge slump in the classified advertising market. Frankfurter Allgemeine has lost three quarters of its job advertisements compared to the boom year 2000. In addition, prestige publications have simply been blindly pushed through. Are Sunday editions (FAZ, NZZ) a noble duty or a dispensable freestyle? Management must ask itself such questions today - and answer them firmly.
Nevertheless, the quality newspaper itself, including its elaborate business and cultural sections, will survive this long economic winter with great cost discipline and despite falling circulations. But now we need to set clear priorities again, true to the motto: first the bread, then the butter. But don't forget: Without bread, you starve.
> Peter Glotz was Federal Secretary of the SPD and a member of the German Bundestag until 1996. Today, the professor teaches communication management at the University of St. Gallen.
Reduce the company to its core competencies" is a famous standard demand of analysts. Siemens CEO Heinrich von Pierer occasionally remarks dryly that he would have gone bankrupt long ago if he had followed such demands. Financial circles have repeatedly advised him to sell off parts of the company that have since become highly lucrative again, so the fine line about "core competencies" is not a patent remedy. However, it would have been worthwhile for some publishing houses to concentrate more on what they are really good at. Large quality newspapers are currently fighting for their lives. The Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) first cut its youth supplement, then its capital city page and finally its supplement for North Rhine-Westphalia. The Frankfurter Allgemeine has also discontinued its Berlin pages. The Frankfurter Rundschau recently had to apply for a state guarantee, and even the Neue Zürcher Zeitung found itself forced to take on a lot of work.
forced to cut costs. If the business model
of the national quality newspaper on the brink of collapse? The SZ editorial team fears this and, in protest, has canceled the traditional "Streiflicht" on page one for the first time and replaced it with a reference to its own crisis.
So it's high time for tried and tested home remedies. Claus Strunz, editor-in-chief of Bild am Sonntag, recommends increasing the subscription price in the face of falling advertising. Publishing managers say that a quality newspaper should cost as much as a cup of coffee. That sounds plausible, but will further reduce circulation. Even the cool cost-cutters are taking a risky approach. Cutting Sunday supplements, magazines and media pages reduces the universality of the respective paper and not only drives down costs, but also readers.
The difference between traditional regional newspapers and the national paper is precisely their cultural, economic and international added value. People prefer the national to the local paper because it contains an essay by Arundathi Roy, a polemic by Adolf Muschg or an analysis of Microsoft. But for such pieces you need
financial and intellectual resources. The quality newspaper determines the intellectual scope of a country's elites; not alone, but to a considerable extent. Anyone who sacrifices the business model of the national quality newspaper is therefore shaking the ability of an entire society to satisfy itself.
Quality newspapers are endangered by peripheral activities such as wickedly expensive internet presences, unsuccessful TV experiments, bought-in specialist publishers, etc. Added to this, however, is the huge slump in the classified advertising market. Frankfurter Allgemeine has lost three quarters of its job advertisements compared to the boom year 2000. In addition, prestige publications have simply been blindly pushed through. Are Sunday editions (FAZ, NZZ) a noble duty or a dispensable freestyle? Management must ask itself such questions today - and answer them firmly.
Nevertheless, the quality newspaper itself, including its elaborate business and cultural sections, will survive this long economic winter with great cost discipline and despite falling circulations. But now we need to set clear priorities again, true to the motto: first the bread, then the butter. But don't forget: Without bread, you starve.
> Peter Glotz was Federal Secretary of the SPD and a member of the German Bundestag until 1996. Today, the professor teaches communication management at the University of St. Gallen.
