Baden draws better than Aargau
After 18 years, AZ Medien is bringing back the *Badener Tagblatt* on October 31. The launch of a daily newspaper is a rarity in today’s Swiss media landscape.
It was a mistake to let the strong brand disappear in 1996 in the course of the merger with the Aargauer Tagblatt to form the Aargauer Zeitung, publisher Peter Wanner told Schweiz am Sonntag. At that time, with the uniform AZ brand, a voice was established for the entire canton, which was a qualitative success. However, the people of Baden do not identify with the Aargauer Zeitung. In Ostaargau, people identify more with the region than with the canton. Accordingly, Wanner is convinced that Badeners are better addressed with "Badener Tagblatt" than with "Aargauer Zeitung. In addition, the publisher believes that he can also score better with the many newcomers from Zurich with the Baden brand than with the rather negative "AG".
The newly launched Badener Tagblatt will take over national, international and cantonal reporting from the AZ Nordwestschweiz newspaper group. Its own accents will be placed on the front page and in the expanded regional section. Own columnists and illustrations will complement the content. In addition, Zurich will be given more weight and the cantonal capital Aarau will take up less space. The strengthened regional department headed by Martin Rumpf will be responsible for the content of the Badener Tagblatt, which will be delivered to subscribers of the AZ Aargauer Zeitung from October 31.
The launch of paid daily newspapers is a rarity in today's media landscape. According to Schweiz am Sonntag, 30 newspaper titles have disappeared in the last 30 years alone; since the 1950s, the number of titles in this country has halved. New newspapers emerged only on Sunday. (hae/SaS)
Image: Keystone
