Wanner does not want to save the Confederation either

The Mittelland Zeitung must not be weakened by a possible cooperation with the Bund," explained Peter Wanner, publisher of the AZ Medien Group, to WerbeWoche, who is skeptical about a cooperation with the number two on the Bern newspaper market, as suggested by the Tages-Anzeiger on January 9. There are no concrete plans for cooperation so far, but new talks with the Bund owner NZZ will take place soon. "We would be interested in supplying the Bund's jacket section. However, there are problems with cooperation in the advertising market," explained Wanner. The Mittelland Zeitung is a compact newspaper model that cannot be expanded at will. It would have to be examined very carefully whether such an entity would not become too large or too expensive. Wanner believes that a docking model, in which the federal government could be added to the MZ on an optional basis, might be worth considering.
The fact that the AZ Medien Group could counter the expansion of the Bern-based Espace Media Group (EM) into the Solothurn area through a partnership with the Bund does not play a role in Wanner's considerations. "In our view, the attack by the Solothurner Tagblatt is not a success, but only costs EM money." Therefore, the AZ Medien Group does not necessarily have to become active in the Bern area. The publisher completely rejects the idea of taking a financial stake in the federal government in order to prevent a monopoly of the European Championships in Bern: "For what? It's not our job to save the Confederation. The Confederation belongs to the NZZ and Publicitas - they have to solve the problem." (sm)