The shreds fly
Commentary by René Worni on «la guerre des gratuits.».
the blue free edition of Le Matin and 20 Minuten, more recently 20
(vingt) minutes. So there's no need to ask whether Edipresse and
Tamedia does not opt for a joint newspaper at the last minute after all
could have reached an agreement. Apparently, nobody values the advance of the
Zurich strategists as a mere threat with express effect - Tamedia
gets serious.
Thus the "guerre des gratuits" in French-speaking Switzerland, and may
Le Matin boss Peter Rothenbühler is looking forward to the esteemed competition from
the German-speaking part of Switzerland, who would like to see the Edipresse
from its long-standing monopolist image (page 19). Seen in this light
any competition is good for Edipresse's image.
The readers of Le Matin Bleu will have something to thank the
Swiss-German audience of 20 Minuten: The
Romands are more aware of their reception behavior than others
free newspaper readers in the world, because they will know the difference
between a paid and a non-paid newspaper directly
at the newspaper boxes. Orange costs, Bleu is
free of charge. What the content of a newspaper is (still) worth will be
exemplified in day-to-day practice along Lake Geneva and later
across the board towards the Röstigraben. A difficult
environment for the newcomer from Zurich.
The flying shreds are additionally stimulated by the considerations of
Michael Ringier, who recently admitted in the Standard that his publishing house had
missed the launch of its own free title. If you count
Further rumors were added, according to which some regional newspapers in the Bern area,
Lucerne, Basel, Zurich and St. Gallen at a joint
commuter newspaper project (which, after all, both Lucerne and
is also neither confirmed nor denied in Basel), so with
civil war-like conditions in the Swiss newspaper industry.
In French-speaking Switzerland, journalistic conscience is making itself heard these days
in an open letter signed by journalists from eleven countries.
Editorial offices worried about loss of quality and jobs signed
have (page 17): The publishers, who are currently behaving like soap salesmen
had forgotten what their task was: namely to work for
independent and credible information.
René Worni
