The end of the bulwarks
«We need to »anticipate market developments,'" Edipresse states, and is cutting 50 jobs at its Swiss publications.
This affects 51 people, 25 of whom are being made redundant. Journalists are also affected, most of them at the Lausanne daily newspaper 24 heures. On Monday, Edipresse employees staged a protest sit-in in front of the publishing house.
In April, Edipresse announced that the publisher had increased its net profit by 7.3 percent to 32.3 million francs last year. Barely six months later, the publisher has hit the brakes: it has generated CHF 10 million less advertising revenue in the current year than in the previous year. In order to take account of developments in the advertising market and the weakened economic situation, savings of CHF 20 million are necessary.
The redundancies are only part of the program. In just a few weeks, the paid tabloid Le Matin and the Vaud daily 24 heures will be repositioned. There are also changes on the management floor: All Edipresse Switzerland products will be placed under the management of Eric Hoesli, who was previously responsible for the regional newspapers. His deputy will be Peter Rothenbühler, who is relinquishing his position as editor-in-chief of Le Matin.
The changes raise questions, such as the repositioning of Le Matin. It was originally announced for the spring, then for the end of the summer vacation. Now it is said that the relaunch will take place at the end of September or beginning of October. At the same time, it is announced that Rothenbühler will step down as editor-in-chief at the end of the year and become deputy head of Swiss Edipresse products. The big maneuvers show: This could be the "relaunch of the last chance" for the paid Le Matin - it must finally bring a clear demarcation between paid and free paper. Although Rothenbühler was able to score points with the switch to the tabloid format, he was not able to stop the bleeding of the orange paper in favor of the blue free paper Matin. Internally, Ariane Dayer is being touted as Rothenbühler's successor. She was heavily involved in the concept for the relaunch, is the former editor-in-chief of the Ringier news magazine L'Hebdo, founded the satirical magazine Saturne and has been deputy editor-in-chief of Le Matin for a year.
Disappointed readers
Another question: why are the cost-cutting measures particularly affecting the Lausanne daily 24 heures, which is losing ten journalist jobs? Just four years ago, Edipresse triumphantly announced that it had squared the circle with the four regional split editions. The readers of a large canton with very different regions could now be offered a full newspaper and a fully-fledged local newspaper at the same time. But the concept of split editions obviously never really worked. "Too little local information, too much centralization in Lausanne, too much paper in readers' letterboxes," was the early criticism from Isidore Raposo, for example, who threw in the towel as editor-in-chief of one of the split editions and founded his own local newspaper. The disappointed local readers on the one hand were obviously the disappointed readers of a full regional newspaper, as 24-heures editor-in-chief Thierry Meyer admits today: "Readers want a newspaper that promotes the cohesion of the canton and reports on all the diversity and wealth of the canton," he tells his paper. The relaunch announced for October 11 must satisfy this need. This means the end for the regional editions.
A debate between Eric Hoesli, the new man in charge of Edipresse Switzerland products, and Nicolas Willemin, editor-in-chief of the two Neuchâtel newspapers L'Impartial and l'Express, which are owned by French press magnate Philippe Hersant, was illuminating on the situation of the regional press in French-speaking Switzerland. The two exponents of the two largest publishing houses in French-speaking Switzerland invoked cooperation and exchange in front of the cameras on French-speaking Swiss television - the two publishing houses had previously fought each other to the death. And Hoesli formulated his credo on the future of regional newspapers, which in French-speaking Switzerland are still anchored in their cantonal strongholds: "Mergers no, cooperation yes, the time of cantonal strongholds is over." An exciting statement, especially when you know that there is a study on the feasibility of a joint federation for the six French-speaking regional newspapers of the Romandie Combi Roc group, two of which belong to Hersant. One of the options being examined is for Edipresse to produce the jacket section. However, the study is still on hold for the time being.
Helen Brügger
In April, Edipresse announced that the publisher had increased its net profit by 7.3 percent to 32.3 million francs last year. Barely six months later, the publisher has hit the brakes: it has generated CHF 10 million less advertising revenue in the current year than in the previous year. In order to take account of developments in the advertising market and the weakened economic situation, savings of CHF 20 million are necessary.
The redundancies are only part of the program. In just a few weeks, the paid tabloid Le Matin and the Vaud daily 24 heures will be repositioned. There are also changes on the management floor: All Edipresse Switzerland products will be placed under the management of Eric Hoesli, who was previously responsible for the regional newspapers. His deputy will be Peter Rothenbühler, who is relinquishing his position as editor-in-chief of Le Matin.
The changes raise questions, such as the repositioning of Le Matin. It was originally announced for the spring, then for the end of the summer vacation. Now it is said that the relaunch will take place at the end of September or beginning of October. At the same time, it is announced that Rothenbühler will step down as editor-in-chief at the end of the year and become deputy head of Swiss Edipresse products. The big maneuvers show: This could be the "relaunch of the last chance" for the paid Le Matin - it must finally bring a clear demarcation between paid and free paper. Although Rothenbühler was able to score points with the switch to the tabloid format, he was not able to stop the bleeding of the orange paper in favor of the blue free paper Matin. Internally, Ariane Dayer is being touted as Rothenbühler's successor. She was heavily involved in the concept for the relaunch, is the former editor-in-chief of the Ringier news magazine L'Hebdo, founded the satirical magazine Saturne and has been deputy editor-in-chief of Le Matin for a year.
Disappointed readers
Another question: why are the cost-cutting measures particularly affecting the Lausanne daily 24 heures, which is losing ten journalist jobs? Just four years ago, Edipresse triumphantly announced that it had squared the circle with the four regional split editions. The readers of a large canton with very different regions could now be offered a full newspaper and a fully-fledged local newspaper at the same time. But the concept of split editions obviously never really worked. "Too little local information, too much centralization in Lausanne, too much paper in readers' letterboxes," was the early criticism from Isidore Raposo, for example, who threw in the towel as editor-in-chief of one of the split editions and founded his own local newspaper. The disappointed local readers on the one hand were obviously the disappointed readers of a full regional newspaper, as 24-heures editor-in-chief Thierry Meyer admits today: "Readers want a newspaper that promotes the cohesion of the canton and reports on all the diversity and wealth of the canton," he tells his paper. The relaunch announced for October 11 must satisfy this need. This means the end for the regional editions.
A debate between Eric Hoesli, the new man in charge of Edipresse Switzerland products, and Nicolas Willemin, editor-in-chief of the two Neuchâtel newspapers L'Impartial and l'Express, which are owned by French press magnate Philippe Hersant, was illuminating on the situation of the regional press in French-speaking Switzerland. The two exponents of the two largest publishing houses in French-speaking Switzerland invoked cooperation and exchange in front of the cameras on French-speaking Swiss television - the two publishing houses had previously fought each other to the death. And Hoesli formulated his credo on the future of regional newspapers, which in French-speaking Switzerland are still anchored in their cantonal strongholds: "Mergers no, cooperation yes, the time of cantonal strongholds is over." An exciting statement, especially when you know that there is a study on the feasibility of a joint federation for the six French-speaking regional newspapers of the Romandie Combi Roc group, two of which belong to Hersant. One of the options being examined is for Edipresse to produce the jacket section. However, the study is still on hold for the time being.
Helen Brügger
