Learning process

 
René Worni on the fluctuating balance of power.we remember: In the fall of 2004, NZZ and PubliGroupe announced their cooperation. At the time, it was said that the earthquake-like deal left no stone unturned in the media in the greater Zurich area. NZZ had managed to tie three coveted Zurich regional newspapers to itself overnight, so to speak, and to collect other titles already belonging to the group, such as the St. Galler Tagblatt and the Neue Luzerner Zeitung, in the specially founded Freie Presse Holding. The NZZ credo was to support and promote the independence of the regional press, and the company basked in the light of a savior of press diversity. A model of editorial cooperation, called Pressenetz, would also allow the regional press to exchange content cost-effectively and guarantee that the editorial offices would not have to be cut to the bone. In the face of so much cleverness, the industry's competitor Tamedia seemed strategically far offside. By building its own regional editorial offices, it resorted to robust means against the regional newspapers in order to gradually emerge from the defensive.
And today? The scene has changed, as have the competitors, and with them the balance of power. Tamedia has acquired Espace and will - who would have guessed it - form a collection basin for the associated media in conjunction with Basler Zeitung, in essence probably the largest Swiss media platform on the Internet, combined with a further new placement in the current thicket of free newspapers. Obviously, Tamedia has learned important lessons, not least from the strategic understanding at Falkenstrasse. All shades of conceivable cooperation are now being mastered, as long as both sides benefit. There is no need for the stronger party to immediately incorporate its partner.
Today, it is the NZZ that is on the sidelines and has to think about how to counter the rapidly growing market power of Werdsträssler. The fact that it is in the same boat as Publicitas may also seem like a flaw to some. For many publishers, the P is no longer sexy and they are now going their own way if they want to make attractive offers to the advertising industry.
> René Worni, Editor