Last but not least: Ringier in the rumor mill
An aspiring publisher in Berlin has secured the traditional "Berliner Tageblatt" brand and is now claiming that a media company from Germany's neighboring country, where people greet each other with "Grüezi", is offering him a six-figure sum for the rights. The publishing house in question publishes a tabloid newspaper. So is Ringier entering the German daily newspaper market or is someone just making themselves look important?
The newspaper man Reiko Opitz in Berlin has secured the traditional "Berliner Tageblatt" brand and now claims that a large publisher is offering him a "high six-figure sum" for the rights. The man does not want to reveal which company is involved, but he did reveal this much to Spiegel Online: the interested party publishes a large tabloid and comes from Germany's neighboring country, where people greet each other with "Grüezi". The news portal concludes that this nation can only be Switzerland and the publisher of the tabloid can only be Ringier. Ringier, however, refrains from commenting: it does not comment on rumors, it simply says. The newspaper name that is apparently being offered for sale has a rather eventful history behind it: the title first appeared in 1872, was brought into line by the Nazis in 1933 and finally discontinued in 1939. After the sad end, the rights to the name became available - and Reiko Opitz secured them in the summer of 2007.
His original intention was not to simply sell the name, but to launch his own daily newspaper "Berliner Tageszeitung - Berliner Tageblatt - erstmals seit 1872". According to Spiegel Online, the paper should have seen the light of day in December, but so far there is only an online presence at Berlinertageblatt.net. According to Opitz, this is due to the competition, which is acting like David against Goliath: The publishers of two previous Berlin daily newspapers, the Tagesspiegel and the Berliner Zeitung, are covering for him with temporary injunctions. The Tagesspiegel, for example, is complaining that Opitz is "feigning an entrepreneurial tradition as a characteristic of business relationships", reports Spiegel Online. However, the competent court was confronted with difficulties: When it tried to send the injunction to the address given in the legal notice on Berlinertageblatt.net, it proved to be "undeliverable" in the best officialese.
Spiegel Online portrays the aspiring newspaper man in a dubious light. His allies are rather shady: a pop singer and a former Miss Germany, for example. Opitz's mission is noble: he wants to create a liberal-conservative paper that sells for 10 cents over the counter. Which would invent the media genre of the "almost free newspaper".
Whether Ringier is actually interested in taking over the traditional name or even in working with Opitz remains to be seen. Perhaps a clever businessman has just made himself important. If the Swiss publishing house now wants to publish a daily newspaper in Germany in addition to the magazines Cicero and Monopol, it can certainly dress warmly: It is no coincidence that journalistic disputes are called "newspaper wars" in Germany. It is particularly intense in the capital. But perhaps Frank A. Meyer has some ideas on how best to launch the title on the market.
His original intention was not to simply sell the name, but to launch his own daily newspaper "Berliner Tageszeitung - Berliner Tageblatt - erstmals seit 1872". According to Spiegel Online, the paper should have seen the light of day in December, but so far there is only an online presence at Berlinertageblatt.net. According to Opitz, this is due to the competition, which is acting like David against Goliath: The publishers of two previous Berlin daily newspapers, the Tagesspiegel and the Berliner Zeitung, are covering for him with temporary injunctions. The Tagesspiegel, for example, is complaining that Opitz is "feigning an entrepreneurial tradition as a characteristic of business relationships", reports Spiegel Online. However, the competent court was confronted with difficulties: When it tried to send the injunction to the address given in the legal notice on Berlinertageblatt.net, it proved to be "undeliverable" in the best officialese.
Spiegel Online portrays the aspiring newspaper man in a dubious light. His allies are rather shady: a pop singer and a former Miss Germany, for example. Opitz's mission is noble: he wants to create a liberal-conservative paper that sells for 10 cents over the counter. Which would invent the media genre of the "almost free newspaper".
Whether Ringier is actually interested in taking over the traditional name or even in working with Opitz remains to be seen. Perhaps a clever businessman has just made himself important. If the Swiss publishing house now wants to publish a daily newspaper in Germany in addition to the magazines Cicero and Monopol, it can certainly dress warmly: It is no coincidence that journalistic disputes are called "newspaper wars" in Germany. It is particularly intense in the capital. But perhaps Frank A. Meyer has some ideas on how best to launch the title on the market.
