Ringier is celebrating its 175th anniversary. In an interview with *Werbewoche*, publisher Michael Ringier discusses the media’s susceptibility to influence, the clear goal of the transition to the digital age, the advertising industry’s outrageous demands, and how to navigate power dynamics abroad. Werbewoche: To mark Ringier’s anniversary, the Kunstmuseum Luzern is hosting the exhibition «Blasted Allegories.» Many of the works on display from your collection explore the seductive power of images. What kind of seductive power do the media exert? Michael Ringier: A very similar one. Art and journalism are related. Both engage with the present, question reality, and provide answers. Seen that way, every publisher should actually collect art (laughs). The world is exploding with images. We need to pause and ask ourselves what lies behind them. After all, images can be manipulated; the internet, in particular, is teeming with manipulated images and videos. This calls for reflection.
Where do you see the role of journalism in all this? Journalists must fulfill their traditional duties: getting out there, asking tough questions, investigating, and reflecting. They aren’t always doing that right now, but they aren’t always funded to do so either. Journalistic work costs money, and the question is how to ensure that funding. Digitalization has significantly altered the flow of funds: it gives everyone access to the public sphere. In the past, anyone who wanted to make information public had to go through a journalist; today, things are different.
What does this mean for the future of the media? While digitization is making life much harder for print newspapers, it also presents a major opportunity: The internet creates a huge issue with content sources, as thousands of people publish content at any given moment. Here, the media can serve as reliable sources and build credibility. Of course, there are also digital platforms with a high degree of credibility.
Which ones are you referring to specifically? I check Spiegel.de every day, as well as the online editions of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the FAZ, and Swiss media outlets like Blick Online and NZZ. I spend five to ten minutes on these every day—I even check Teletext. I’m very interested in sports—on the internet, I can constantly check the current score of a Roger Federer match.
How is Ringier handling digital transformation? We have a wide variety of projects and want to digitize all 120 of our brands, to varying degrees. But no one really knows where this digital journey is headed—not Springer, and not even Rupert Murdoch. Things are moving fast: With the acquisition of Swissmedia, we’ve suddenly become one of the major players in the classifieds sector. We’ll be evaluating other companies to see if we want to acquire them, including smaller ones.
Do you have specific acquisition plans in Switzerland or abroad? We consider such possibilities for all markets. It’s not something you can plan exactly. Last summer, I had no idea that we would acquire Swissmedia in late fall. Even if the future remains unclear, we still have to consider all the necessary options. When the white stag runs by, we have to recognize it and seize the opportunity—you have to be ready and react quickly.
When it came to free newspapers, you didn't quite get the hang of it at first. Yes, we weren't ready the first time around. But we've come a long way, and with five titles in Europe, we're now the largest free newspaper publisher in Switzerland. And now we're taking another step forward with *Blick am Abend*.
Where do you stand on the transition from *Heute* to *Blick am Abend*? We’re ready—it’s about to begin. Betting on *Blick am Abend* is a risk in a way, but I’m very confident. I like what I’ve seen so far. The new publication incorporates elements from *Heute* but also features new content. *Heute* is popular with readers—we’d be foolish to take away the elements they love. In terms of presentation, however, *Blick am Abend* has a different look and feel.
With the advent of free newspapers, journalism has increasingly become a commodity. Does this mean the economic pressure is mounting? News has become a commodity, not journalism. Simply copying reports from the SDA isn’t exactly a great journalistic achievement. But the pressure has indeed increased as a result. In the past, we’d just give an SDA report a new headline, write a few sentences to go with it, create a colorful layout—and that was it. You can’t do that anymore in a paid newspaper today.
How has the pressure from the advertising industry changed? It has increased significantly—any publisher will tell you that. The advertising industry has far more options than it used to for allocating its budget. And it knows that. Sometimes we get outrageous demands, but we don’t give in to them.
How far will you go under this pressure? We’ll go as far as our journalistic principles allow. Even advertorials have their limits. We must not mislead readers; in the long run, that doesn’t benefit the media or advertisers. At the same time, we look for creative solutions for our clients. New media provide a good testing ground for this—Cash daily, for example.
Are you satisfied with the Cash Daily training platform? Yes. But we’re struggling with the fact that our performance isn’t being measured. That’s a major problem: we want to sell a service that isn’t being measured. We need to find ways to measure what’s known as the «total audience.» This must be a priority for the entire industry. This is where the future lies.
You’re celebrating your 175th anniversary. What has Ringier learned from the past? We’ve always learned from our mistakes. The company today is different from what it was 20 years ago, and that’s partly due to those mistakes. You have to be open-minded and dare to try something new. We’ve constantly been doing new things—even crazy ones. When we started operating in Vietnam and Romania in the early ’90s, everyone told me I was crazy. The risk paid off, and these ventures are fun. But they also have to stay within a financially reasonable framework: If these new investments had cost 50 or 100 million francs, we wouldn’t have taken the risk. You must never jeopardize the company with high-risk projects.
Did Ringier’s expansion abroad have anything to do with the fact that you yourself lived abroad as a journalist for several years? It was a deliberate move abroad. I wanted to build a company that plays in a different league. I love Switzerland, but I don’t want to be stuck here for 80 years. And a company that operates internationally attracts different kinds of people—people who enjoy working in Vietnam and China. Those are the kind of employees we want; we benefit immensely from them. We’ve always been fortunate to attract people who are willing to take on such risks—Thomas Trüb, for example.
How does your media company deal with cultural differences in the countries where it operates? We often travel there, trying to ask as many questions as possible and learn as much as we can. We also bring Swiss qualities to the table, such as simplicity, reliability, and a focus on the small details. We want to combine these with a spirit of adventure and a pioneering spirit.
How do the power dynamics in these countries influence your work, particularly in China? We avoid topics where these power dynamics would be relevant. In China, we publish a women’s magazine and a cooking magazine; there, questions of press freedom don’t even arise. We’ve never had a problem, nor have we ever had to violate journalistic principles. Our local staff know how far they can go. Furthermore, the Chinese media have caught up significantly: there’s live coverage from the areas affected by the earthquake—it’s just like on CNN. Of course, our Western ideals of press freedom haven’t been fully realized yet. But these principles are still relatively new here, and our Swiss democracy began with a war. We mustn’t forget that when discussing the situation in China.
What role does Switzerland play for Ringier? It’s still absolutely central, and it’s the country where journalists scrutinize us the most. We’ve invested heavily here, pouring a lot of money into the internet. You can’t be successful abroad if things aren’t running smoothly at home. The question of the Swiss market’s importance to Ringier comes up time and again. But I’m tired of having to prove that we’re still interested in Switzerland.
Are you looking to expand in your home market? We’re interested in everything. Consolidation is the order of the day—the printing industry is a prime example of this...,
Was the purchase of Espace Media not an option for you? I believe the situation was structured in such a way that no buyer other than Tamedia was even an option. It was not up for sale.
You’re focusing on digitalization—what about television? Our strategy in Switzerland is to produce programming. We want to do this more extensively in other countries. In Romania, we have a stake in a television station. The problem is that whoever produces programming must also have access to a platform to broadcast it. That’s why we’ll also be acquiring stakes in broadcasters in other countries at various times.
And in Switzerland—isn’t there any discussion about the possibility of a kind of «Blick-TV» airing on Swiss television? We have some ideas along those lines. But of course, the TV stations would have to be on board. Furthermore, it’s unclear whether such programs could be financially viable. A lot of it relies on sponsorship. That works well for programs in the medical field. But for a program with a strong social mission, as «Blick-TV» would need to be, that’s rather difficult.
Finally, the inevitable question: Will Ringier be sold after its anniversary, as the rumor mill suggests? I really don’t want to answer this question anymore; this rumor is nonsense that has taken on a life of its own. Ringier will not be sold; we will remain independent, even five years from now.
And in ten years? Who knows what will happen in ten years? But yes: Ringier will still be independent then, too.
> Interview: Carole Scheidegger
