Hire and fire at dimanche.ch
Editor-in-chief Daniel Pillard has to slim down his Sunday newspaper dimanche.ch
Editor-in-chief Daniel Pillard has to slim down his Sunday newspaper dimanche.chBy Anita Vaucher The dismissal of eight employees at dimanche.ch has fueled rumors that the French-speaking Swiss Sunday newspaper will soon come to an end. Daniel Pillard, editor-in-chief of dimanche.ch for the past year, is optimistic.
Daniel Pillard's declared aim is to position Ringier Romandie's Sunday newspaper dimanche.ch as a complementary paper to its major competitor Matin Dimanche. Matin Dimanche is a service newspaper, while dimanche.ch wants to be a newspaper that provides food for thought. With these words, Pillard defines his paper - in the full conviction that readers in French-speaking Switzerland want an alternative to the monopolist Matin Dimanche. However, Pillard admits that this goal can only be achieved in stages. Even though the Ringier management has not set a deadline for its editor-in-chief, he is well aware that he does not have much time left to anchor the paper in the French-speaking Swiss newspaper landscape. After all, speculation about the future of the paper was already rife in January.
No cervelat celebrities from French-speaking Switzerland
As a first measure, Pillard restructured the first section when he took up his post a year ago and filled it with more news. Reader guidance has also been improved with clearer designations for the individual sections. On the sales front, the number of sales boxes has been increased from 1000 to 1700. New sections that are already occupied by Matin Dimanche or do not fit in with the mission statement of dimanche.ch have been removed.
For example, the topic of tourism is no longer covered and the people page with the Cervelat celebrities from French-speaking Switzerland has been deleted without replacement. This is probably due to cost-cutting measures. In line with the mission statement, the third and fourth bundles will be merged from September 1 and reduced from 22 to 16 pages.
"Less, but better" is Pillard's new credo for his newspaper. The same also applied to the eight employees, including five journalists, who were made redundant before the summer vacation. However, the remaining editorial team signaled a need for explanation when Daniel Pillard hired two new journalists immediately afterwards. He argued that he was looking for polyvalent journalists rather than specialists for his small editorial team.
Daniel Pillard's declared aim is to position Ringier Romandie's Sunday newspaper dimanche.ch as a complementary paper to its major competitor Matin Dimanche. Matin Dimanche is a service newspaper, while dimanche.ch wants to be a newspaper that provides food for thought. With these words, Pillard defines his paper - in the full conviction that readers in French-speaking Switzerland want an alternative to the monopolist Matin Dimanche. However, Pillard admits that this goal can only be achieved in stages. Even though the Ringier management has not set a deadline for its editor-in-chief, he is well aware that he does not have much time left to anchor the paper in the French-speaking Swiss newspaper landscape. After all, speculation about the future of the paper was already rife in January.
No cervelat celebrities from French-speaking Switzerland
As a first measure, Pillard restructured the first section when he took up his post a year ago and filled it with more news. Reader guidance has also been improved with clearer designations for the individual sections. On the sales front, the number of sales boxes has been increased from 1000 to 1700. New sections that are already occupied by Matin Dimanche or do not fit in with the mission statement of dimanche.ch have been removed.
For example, the topic of tourism is no longer covered and the people page with the Cervelat celebrities from French-speaking Switzerland has been deleted without replacement. This is probably due to cost-cutting measures. In line with the mission statement, the third and fourth bundles will be merged from September 1 and reduced from 22 to 16 pages.
"Less, but better" is Pillard's new credo for his newspaper. The same also applied to the eight employees, including five journalists, who were made redundant before the summer vacation. However, the remaining editorial team signaled a need for explanation when Daniel Pillard hired two new journalists immediately afterwards. He argued that he was looking for polyvalent journalists rather than specialists for his small editorial team.
