Tagesanzeiger to have joint editor-in-chief for print and online in future
During the presentation of its half-year results at the end of August, Tamedia announced that it was considering merging the print and online editorial teams of the *Tagesanzeiger* and *Newsnet*. Now, the announced merger is also bringing about changes at the executive level.
In future, there will only be one editorial team. It is still unclear how it will be made up and when it will start work. Tamedia spokesperson Christoph Zimmer confirmed a corresponding report by the online portal Persoenlich.com on Friday.
At present, Peter Wälty is responsible for Newsnet and Markus Einsenhut and Res Strehle are co-editors-in-chief for the print editorial team. Although this structure will change as a result of the convergence project, it is possible that there will still be several people on the editorial board, Zimmer told Werbewoche. Merging the print and online editorial teams should also save costs. According to Zimmer, the savings in 2014 compared to 2012 should ultimately amount to around 15 percent. However, a significant part of this has already been realized through measures such as the discontinuation of the Tagesanzeiger regional section. Although Tamedia is still in the early stages of this project, there will certainly be no mass redundancies, Zimmer emphasizes.
Continued specialization
Tamedia plans to have made the most important decisions by the end of the year (Werbewoche.ch reported). However, the actual implementation is likely to take until the end of 2013. The Tagesanzeiger is particularly affected by the convergence strategy. A project team is now drawing up plans for merging the various editorial teams. Among other things, it is determining in which areas specialized print and online competencies continue to make sense and where not. How this can be implemented on a day-to-day basis is quickly determined on paper, but will take even more time in day-to-day implementation than the mere concept, as Zimmer says. However, the goal is certainly not a newsroom where everyone does everything. Specialization will continue to be important.
Imprint: Arguments lack credibility in view of record profits
Impressum is concerned about Tamedia's further move to standardize the information in its media. The economic arguments are implausible in view of the record profits, the professional association wrote on Friday. "We call on Tamedia not to repeat the mistakes of the 2009 wave of redundancies," warns Daniel Suter, President of Impressum and former journalist at the Tages Anzeiger.
The Newsnet editorial team works well and complements the paper media with additional perspectives, Impressum continued in the communiqué. Abolishing the independence of Newsnet would be a new loss for the diversity of opinion. Tamedia has already standardized a lot of information in its various media in the past in order to save on personnel, for example at the Bund or the Zurich regional newspapers.
As the largest private media company, Tamedia has a great responsibility towards both its staff and the public. Instead of planning new rationalizations without necessity, Tamedia should invest in the expansion of journalistic quality and diversity of opinion. This would strengthen Tamedia's credibility as a media company. According to the professional association, the company's record profits and healthy reserves make this possible. They therefore demand that Tamedia refrain from further downsizing plans and maintain its journalistic capacities.
According to Christoph Zimmer, Impressum's reaction indicates that the professional association has probably misunderstood something here. There can be no question of unification, he says. Rather, the two editorial offices, which previously operated under the Tagesanzeiger brand, are now to be merged into a single editorial office.
