Baz: Water on Wanner's mill again

Once again, Peter Wanner's AZ Medien in Basel has struck in terms of marketing: On Saturday, May 5, the publisher not only had the BZ Basel, the Basel edition of the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung, distributed free of charge in the mailboxes of Basel, but also provided the envelope with the cheeky inscription "Die Basler Zeitungsalternative als Gratis-Leseprobe" ("The Basel Newspaper Alternative as a Free Sample"). Of course, a subscription card was also included. So the people of Basel were able to enjoy a free BZ twice last week - because they have been receiving the BZ on Wednesdays for some time now anyway.

Big head shaking over Zanetti
The date for Saturday's action was not chosen at random, of course: For two weeks now, the discussion about the Baz has flared up again in Basel after a few weeks of calm. The renewed unrest was triggered by Baz editor-in-chief Markus Somm himself: At the end of April, he appointed Zurich SVP cantonal councilor Claudio Zanetti as a reporter on the U.S. presidential campaign (and later, perhaps, as a federal house correspondent). This decision triggered head-shaking from far and wide - not only in Basel and not only in the left-wing party spectrum. There is also resistance in the Baz editorial office.

The Baz coverage of the May Day celebrations in Basel and Liestal also had serious consequences: on the front page, they were not even a topic, in the regional section, the Basel rally with around 1,300 participants was covered with a three-column picture and four-line legend, and the Liestal demonstration was only given a small two-column article. In contrast, the illegal Baselbieter beer run with 40 participants, which took place on the same day, was given more space both on the front page and in the regional section.

Editor in chief reprimands editor in chief
For the large left-wing section of Basel's population, this was an affront. So much so that even the level-headed Helmut Hubacher, the doyen of Basel's Social Democrats, has now been "nuggi uusegjaggt," as they say in Basel German. In his Saturday Baz column on May 5, he initially gave the newspaper some praise: it no longer "ripples" along as it used to. "Now it's pattering and crashing. The paper has regained its profile. Politically right-wing. But the other opinion gets consistently place. The paper makes exciting reading."

"And now this:... For the first time in decades" the BaZ had not reported on the May 1 celebrations, Hubacher noted in consternation and spoke of a boycott by the Baz local editorial staff. Hubacher admitted that the Baz had been strongly criticized in public at the May 1 celebrations in Basel - even last year. Nevertheless, the former editor-in-chief of the former Basler Arbeiterzeitung read the riot act to the current Baz editor-in-chief: "May Day is still Basel's biggest political event. The public should be informed about it." It would be fatal if the Baz were to become a fighting paper. It would also be "completely unnecessary to snub the unions as organizers and as social partners of the economy. May 1 is their Labor Day. ... It's not about Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf. It's about respect for those who think differently. It's also about the dignity of the newspaper."

Wanner wants to score points with the left
And in the midst of this heated atmosphere, AZ Medien distributed its Saturday "Basel Newspaper Alternative. As such, it could now actually score some points with the Basel left, because it had reported quite differently about the May 1 celebrations: BZ Basel had already devoted a lot of space to Labor Day on the front page, as well as in the regional section, and it had also devoted a half-page article to the demonstration in Rheinfelden.

This shows once again that when the Baz shows its face, the Aargauer Verlag immediately exploits it shamelessly but skilfully. It's just stupid that the Baz and its editor-in-chief Markus Somm are embarrassing themselves a lot - currently every week.

Markus Knöpfli