Fear of red-green ghost drivers
At the 16th Munich Media Days, there was clever complaining and cool (ab)calculating
At the 16th Munich Media Days, there was some clever complaining and cool calculationsBy Oliver Classen The paint is off, the engine is sputtering, but the bodywork - genuine German workmanship - is indestructible and continues to pull the lurching wagons of the economic train forward: that sums up the mood at this year's industry summit. None of the German publishing house and broadcaster bosses, almost all of whom were present, wanted to admit to a structural crisis.
We are delighted that the publishing city of Basel will be hosting the Swiss-German Book Fair in future. But the media metropolis of Zurich would also soon need its own industry get-together. This is the kind of thought that prompted those from Switzerland (Ringier, NZZ, SRG and Bakoman employees) to make the pilgrimage to the Munich Media Days last week. Elmar Ledergerber, who could learn a thing or two about efficient business and media promotion and the generation of "manager traffic" in Italy's northernmost city, would be in demand here.
Although the official key question was "Where will the media growth of the future come from?", at the lecterns and behind the scenes of the 72-hour "get-together", the focus was just as frequently and fiercely on location policy and distribution battles. In his opening speech, Edmund Stoiber, Bavaria's Minister-President and still an election campaigner, stated that the dual broadcasting system would probably not exist without the bourgeois parties in general and his Free State in particular.
As an advocate for the communications industry and private television, he said he would now campaign for a general ban on advertising for fee-financed broadcasters "in Berlin, which is currently more backward-looking than ever". Urs Rohner, Swiss head of the Munich-based ProSieben/Sat-1 family, also criticized "a scandalous imbalance" on the following podium and eagerly supported his father with figures: According to these, ARD and ZDF's fee income has increased since the beginning of 2001 by the same amount as the private broadcasters' advertising money has melted away, namely EUR 600 million.
Most recently, RTL boss Gerhard Zeiler, who is based in red-green-governed North Rhine-Westphalia, emphasized that complete freedom of advertising for the "state distortion of competition" would create thousands of new jobs in the private media industry. This was probably a reminder to his and all other SPD state premiers of their election promises. After all, success is virtually certain: "The BBC in England has shown us how it's done, we just have to follow suit."
Stoiber's schadenfreude and Burda's brown suitcase
Aha, Munich sees itself as a film and television city for the time being, that much was quickly clear. So it was no wonder that Stoiber, whom Der Spiegel once called "the blonde hatchet", received applause for his sardonic remark that the media, which until recently had been "know-it-all" in their judgment of the "bitter Kirch insolvency", were now in a financial pickle. Now they should put their own house in order. Of course, the crisis-ridden national newspapers were addressed, above all the SPD-affiliated Süddeutsche Zeitung. Its managing director Dirk Refäuter countered the following day with an appeal to the 5500 congress participants (2001: 5200) to finally concentrate on their economic duty after the embarrassing political freestyle.
Concrete business opportunities and threats: Hubert Burda, who is known for being particularly innovative, cited several of both from his brown briefcase ("my mobile filing cabinet"). According to him, the biggest threat at the moment comes from Brussels, which has a penchant for regulation. Should the EU consider further advertising restrictions, the Munich-based publisher (Focus, Bunte) believes that the diversity of European newspapers and magazines is "more seriously threatened than ever before".
Burda, who knows the EU climate well as president of the association, fears an ideological domino effect. Because if a left-liberal lobby had its way, cars, pharmaceutical products and even toys would soon be listed on the index after tobacco and alcohol. But as we learned in German class: "Where there's danger, there's salvation." The educated Burda knows his Hölderlin as well as he knows the online market. His rather anti-cyclical hope is a commercial combination of print and Internet. "This is where the exciting forms of advertising of the future lie."
From cue to scapegoat
However, it wasn't just suffering and gossip that could be heard in the elegantly converted handling halls of the former Riem airport, but also the occasional hearty laugh. For example, when the deputy managing director of the Stuttgart-based Holtzbrinck publishing group, Michael Grabner, proudly announced to the Booz Allen media consultant, Adam Bird, that he had been "clean" for a good year now and had not regretted it for a single day. You could literally see the well-behaved consultant gradually realizing that this meant "consultancy-free".
McKinsey & Co, who sponsored and moderated almost half of all 80 specialist events this year, had a difficult time this time. Some reformed media managers scolded their ex-sponsors more or less explicitly, along the lines of "We are now footing the bill for your seductive expansion and diversification concepts".
Even Bertelsmann board member Arnold Bahlmann took part in the cheerful consultant bashing. He even expressed the view to a representative of the New York money house Morgan Stanley that the investment banks bore a good deal of responsibility for the current situation due to the many debt-financed acquisitions in the communications industry. Bertelsmann simply has a lot to say in view of the high equity ratio and the relative freedom from debt of its company.
Springer's editorial "change management"
Apart from settling old scores, there was often hardly any room for future scenarios. A pity, after all, nowhere else do so many media makers sit together as at this autumnal industry event. However, when there was talk of concrete measures to overcome the crisis, the buzzword "change management" was regularly mentioned. Springer boss Matthias Döpfner vividly illustrated what this means, apart from abstract concepts such as "structural adjustment" or "cost efficiency", using the editions of Die Welt and Berliner Morgenpost that he had brought with him. The merger of their editorial teams had not only saved the Group 100 jobs, but had also "improved the quality" of both newspapers. The "MoPo" is now leaving the national field "quite calmly" to its big sister paper and is once again concentrating more on its regional competencies.
"Unconventional means sometimes produce unexpectedly positive results", with these words Döpfner encouraged his colleagues to rethink taboos and try out somewhat more radical tricks "right now". RTL editor-in-chief Hans Mahr, who was being touted as the successor to Urs Rohner at arch-competitor Pro7/Sat 1 on the fringes of the summit, sounded the same horn and called for "a concerted slim-fast cure" for the German media industry, which has become sluggish.
However, according to Mahr, even the boldest wellness program is of no use if the regulatory framework conditions put a damper on any innovative spirit. Of course, Focus editor-in-chief Helmut Markwort didn't let this rhetorical pass go unused and quickly doubled down: "After September 11, we in Germany now also have September 22 to digest." Of course, this Munich poison dart also had the second edition of the red-green coalition in its sights. Instead of the urgently needed economic signals, this time the Media Days primarily provided signals of political change. In Germany, after the elections is always before the elections. In this respect, Switzerland undoubtedly has a real locational advantage for once.
We are delighted that the publishing city of Basel will be hosting the Swiss-German Book Fair in future. But the media metropolis of Zurich would also soon need its own industry get-together. This is the kind of thought that prompted those from Switzerland (Ringier, NZZ, SRG and Bakoman employees) to make the pilgrimage to the Munich Media Days last week. Elmar Ledergerber, who could learn a thing or two about efficient business and media promotion and the generation of "manager traffic" in Italy's northernmost city, would be in demand here.
Although the official key question was "Where will the media growth of the future come from?", at the lecterns and behind the scenes of the 72-hour "get-together", the focus was just as frequently and fiercely on location policy and distribution battles. In his opening speech, Edmund Stoiber, Bavaria's Minister-President and still an election campaigner, stated that the dual broadcasting system would probably not exist without the bourgeois parties in general and his Free State in particular.
As an advocate for the communications industry and private television, he said he would now campaign for a general ban on advertising for fee-financed broadcasters "in Berlin, which is currently more backward-looking than ever". Urs Rohner, Swiss head of the Munich-based ProSieben/Sat-1 family, also criticized "a scandalous imbalance" on the following podium and eagerly supported his father with figures: According to these, ARD and ZDF's fee income has increased since the beginning of 2001 by the same amount as the private broadcasters' advertising money has melted away, namely EUR 600 million.
Most recently, RTL boss Gerhard Zeiler, who is based in red-green-governed North Rhine-Westphalia, emphasized that complete freedom of advertising for the "state distortion of competition" would create thousands of new jobs in the private media industry. This was probably a reminder to his and all other SPD state premiers of their election promises. After all, success is virtually certain: "The BBC in England has shown us how it's done, we just have to follow suit."
Stoiber's schadenfreude and Burda's brown suitcase
Aha, Munich sees itself as a film and television city for the time being, that much was quickly clear. So it was no wonder that Stoiber, whom Der Spiegel once called "the blonde hatchet", received applause for his sardonic remark that the media, which until recently had been "know-it-all" in their judgment of the "bitter Kirch insolvency", were now in a financial pickle. Now they should put their own house in order. Of course, the crisis-ridden national newspapers were addressed, above all the SPD-affiliated Süddeutsche Zeitung. Its managing director Dirk Refäuter countered the following day with an appeal to the 5500 congress participants (2001: 5200) to finally concentrate on their economic duty after the embarrassing political freestyle.
Concrete business opportunities and threats: Hubert Burda, who is known for being particularly innovative, cited several of both from his brown briefcase ("my mobile filing cabinet"). According to him, the biggest threat at the moment comes from Brussels, which has a penchant for regulation. Should the EU consider further advertising restrictions, the Munich-based publisher (Focus, Bunte) believes that the diversity of European newspapers and magazines is "more seriously threatened than ever before".
Burda, who knows the EU climate well as president of the association, fears an ideological domino effect. Because if a left-liberal lobby had its way, cars, pharmaceutical products and even toys would soon be listed on the index after tobacco and alcohol. But as we learned in German class: "Where there's danger, there's salvation." The educated Burda knows his Hölderlin as well as he knows the online market. His rather anti-cyclical hope is a commercial combination of print and Internet. "This is where the exciting forms of advertising of the future lie."
From cue to scapegoat
However, it wasn't just suffering and gossip that could be heard in the elegantly converted handling halls of the former Riem airport, but also the occasional hearty laugh. For example, when the deputy managing director of the Stuttgart-based Holtzbrinck publishing group, Michael Grabner, proudly announced to the Booz Allen media consultant, Adam Bird, that he had been "clean" for a good year now and had not regretted it for a single day. You could literally see the well-behaved consultant gradually realizing that this meant "consultancy-free".
McKinsey & Co, who sponsored and moderated almost half of all 80 specialist events this year, had a difficult time this time. Some reformed media managers scolded their ex-sponsors more or less explicitly, along the lines of "We are now footing the bill for your seductive expansion and diversification concepts".
Even Bertelsmann board member Arnold Bahlmann took part in the cheerful consultant bashing. He even expressed the view to a representative of the New York money house Morgan Stanley that the investment banks bore a good deal of responsibility for the current situation due to the many debt-financed acquisitions in the communications industry. Bertelsmann simply has a lot to say in view of the high equity ratio and the relative freedom from debt of its company.
Springer's editorial "change management"
Apart from settling old scores, there was often hardly any room for future scenarios. A pity, after all, nowhere else do so many media makers sit together as at this autumnal industry event. However, when there was talk of concrete measures to overcome the crisis, the buzzword "change management" was regularly mentioned. Springer boss Matthias Döpfner vividly illustrated what this means, apart from abstract concepts such as "structural adjustment" or "cost efficiency", using the editions of Die Welt and Berliner Morgenpost that he had brought with him. The merger of their editorial teams had not only saved the Group 100 jobs, but had also "improved the quality" of both newspapers. The "MoPo" is now leaving the national field "quite calmly" to its big sister paper and is once again concentrating more on its regional competencies.
"Unconventional means sometimes produce unexpectedly positive results", with these words Döpfner encouraged his colleagues to rethink taboos and try out somewhat more radical tricks "right now". RTL editor-in-chief Hans Mahr, who was being touted as the successor to Urs Rohner at arch-competitor Pro7/Sat 1 on the fringes of the summit, sounded the same horn and called for "a concerted slim-fast cure" for the German media industry, which has become sluggish.
However, according to Mahr, even the boldest wellness program is of no use if the regulatory framework conditions put a damper on any innovative spirit. Of course, Focus editor-in-chief Helmut Markwort didn't let this rhetorical pass go unused and quickly doubled down: "After September 11, we in Germany now also have September 22 to digest." Of course, this Munich poison dart also had the second edition of the red-green coalition in its sights. Instead of the urgently needed economic signals, this time the Media Days primarily provided signals of political change. In Germany, after the elections is always before the elections. In this respect, Switzerland undoubtedly has a real locational advantage for once.
