The hidden investment gap
Column: After the lean years, it's time to invest again. Once again, publishers are putting their money in the wrong place.
Column After the lean years, it's time to invest again. Publishers are once again doing it in the wrong place. After five lean years - with advertising down by 30 to over 50 percent at leading A daily newspapers (please never forget!) - publishers and, above all, editorial teams are stretched to the limit. In concrete terms, this means, for example, that the culture section of a leading regional newspaper with high content standards still has a budget of CHF 400 per newspaper page for freelancer fees (image and text). Contributions that would take a normal cultural journalist one working day to produce are then remunerated with 300 francs. The head of department of a medium-sized regional newspaper tells me about freelance journalists who attend an evening event, write the report that night and then receive a fee of 150 francs! But the publishers of these newspapers applaud reliably when someone on a podium says that quality journalism will save their species. What constitutes quality? Careful research, of course. Which, of course, is of little use if I'm not reasonably well versed in the subject in question. What and who should I ask if I don't know what's important, for example when it comes to investing? Where should I even start my research if I have no idea about the mechanics of managing pension fund assets? And how should I categorize the information I have researched if I find it difficult to read and interpret a balance sheet?
"Good afternoon, you have a scalpel here. No one else is here at the moment. Would you mind performing this heart operation?" Or: "Take a seat! This is a cockpit. Please fly this jumbo jet to London quickly!"
"Okay, I'll give it a try..."
Too many average Swiss journalists handle dangerous instruments and control big boxes without having learned how to do it properly. They lack the prerequisites, the time and the budget to acquire these prerequisites in a suitable form. A suitable form means training, further education, maintaining contacts outside of the daily news in the form of reading, discussions with contacts and attending conferences. Means specialization in key dossiers. Does not necessarily mean becoming an expert yourself, but at least being knowledgeable enough about the subject or industry to be able to ask questions that are taken seriously.
Publishers and, above all, journalists would be shocked if they could listen to how they, their competence and their reputation are judged in the boardrooms. As a rule, the problems are then delegated to the ever-growing guild of press spokespeople, spin doctors and façade cleaners. Their task is clear: feed the dragon, but keep the stupid gang at bay. Of course, the aim of the interested parties is not public information or even clarification of the context. Rather, peace and quiet for undisturbed business.
Even the most capable and informed journalists will always be forced to reduce complexity and radically simplify facts. If they then have to do this under the prevailing working conditions - without in-depth knowledge of the dossier, under time and budget pressure - the consequences are inevitable, which run exactly counter to the quality that is supposedly aimed for through in-depth coverage. They can be influenced. And the herd follows the leaders. Monumental errors of judgment occur in series, sometimes with tragic consequences for those affected. Although the Swissfirst case has not yet been clarified down to the last detail, it has the potential to become a prime example of this undesirable development.
So, what now? After the lean years, it's time to invest again. I fear that publishers are once again doing it in the wrong place. The fact that everyone now owns a wonderful, state-of-the-art newspaper printing plant has dutifully impressed us. The fact that most publishers have missed out on the two big areas of success in the past - the networks and search engines - is somewhat less so. This experience will probably not prevent them from investing huge sums in the wrong things again, currently in the material battles in the free press field. The money for this is still being earned with the traditional titles, but they are being cut to the bone in terms of intellect and personnel. There is then a lack of funds for more and more competently staffed editorial positions, for personnel development, management training, basic and further training and for decent salaries.
The industry is well on the way to eating its own seeds. En Guete!
Karl Lüönd is a freelance journalist and author
"Good afternoon, you have a scalpel here. No one else is here at the moment. Would you mind performing this heart operation?" Or: "Take a seat! This is a cockpit. Please fly this jumbo jet to London quickly!"
"Okay, I'll give it a try..."
Too many average Swiss journalists handle dangerous instruments and control big boxes without having learned how to do it properly. They lack the prerequisites, the time and the budget to acquire these prerequisites in a suitable form. A suitable form means training, further education, maintaining contacts outside of the daily news in the form of reading, discussions with contacts and attending conferences. Means specialization in key dossiers. Does not necessarily mean becoming an expert yourself, but at least being knowledgeable enough about the subject or industry to be able to ask questions that are taken seriously.
Publishers and, above all, journalists would be shocked if they could listen to how they, their competence and their reputation are judged in the boardrooms. As a rule, the problems are then delegated to the ever-growing guild of press spokespeople, spin doctors and façade cleaners. Their task is clear: feed the dragon, but keep the stupid gang at bay. Of course, the aim of the interested parties is not public information or even clarification of the context. Rather, peace and quiet for undisturbed business.
Even the most capable and informed journalists will always be forced to reduce complexity and radically simplify facts. If they then have to do this under the prevailing working conditions - without in-depth knowledge of the dossier, under time and budget pressure - the consequences are inevitable, which run exactly counter to the quality that is supposedly aimed for through in-depth coverage. They can be influenced. And the herd follows the leaders. Monumental errors of judgment occur in series, sometimes with tragic consequences for those affected. Although the Swissfirst case has not yet been clarified down to the last detail, it has the potential to become a prime example of this undesirable development.
So, what now? After the lean years, it's time to invest again. I fear that publishers are once again doing it in the wrong place. The fact that everyone now owns a wonderful, state-of-the-art newspaper printing plant has dutifully impressed us. The fact that most publishers have missed out on the two big areas of success in the past - the networks and search engines - is somewhat less so. This experience will probably not prevent them from investing huge sums in the wrong things again, currently in the material battles in the free press field. The money for this is still being earned with the traditional titles, but they are being cut to the bone in terms of intellect and personnel. There is then a lack of funds for more and more competently staffed editorial positions, for personnel development, management training, basic and further training and for decent salaries.
The industry is well on the way to eating its own seeds. En Guete!
Karl Lüönd is a freelance journalist and author
