"More character, debate and cheekiness"
A woman at the helm of a tabloid? Ariane Dayer, the new editor-in-chief of the Edipresse publication *Le Matin*, loves a challenge.
A video clip is playing on the redesigned lematin.ch website: A couple of Matin editors are talking about their new boss in front of the coffee machine: "First Rothenbühler from German-speaking Switzerland and now a woman!" they moan. This little scene sets the tone with which the newspaper wants to win back lost readers and gain new ones: Irony and impertinence.
Ariane Dayer also has character traits that set her apart. Between 1997 and 2002, the 44-year-old from Valais made a name for herself as editor-in-chief of the Ringier news magazine L'Hebdo with her biting commentaries. "If you want to do political journalism, you need the courage to express your own opinion and dissent," is her motto.
Rich in experience - despite young age
The daughter of former Nouvelliste editor-in-chief François Dayer fell into the magic potion as a child, just like Obelix. She admired her father because he had access to all milieus and the legitimacy to speak to anyone who interested him. This led her into journalism after completing a degree in political science. As editor of the Federal Parliament, she was supposed to write gossip for the Geneva daily La Suisse, but instead she wrote political commentaries. At L'Hebdo, where she became editor-in-chief at the age of 37 thanks to the discreet influence of Frank A. Meyer, she set new standards: with part-time positions, she promoted female journalists, and with the approach of also tackling political issues through the people involved, she gave the intellectuals' daily a touch of a celebrity magazine ahead of its time.
Critics accused her of wanting to turn Hebdo into a "Hebda". Both sides remained silent about the reasons for the break between Ringier and Dayer - a dismissal that mobilized the feminists. Dayer would not be dissuaded from her path: In 2004, she enthusiastically threw herself into publishing the satirical magazine Saturne, a cheeky, beautifully designed magazine that never found a wider audience. After just two years, she had to discontinue Saturne, losing part of her savings in the process - "Totgelacht" ("Laugh to death") was the title of the last issue.
But what is a woman who knows her way around quality and magazine journalism doing at the tabloid Le Matin of all places? Paradoxically, it is precisely her previous approach that seems to predestine her for this task. After all, Le Matin, a leader in the areas of sport, faits divers and celebrities until the appearance of the commuter newspapers, suffers more than any other daily newspaper in French-speaking Switzerland from free competition that focuses on the same topics. The Matin has no choice but to raise its profile, explains Dayer: "Not in the sense of elitist journalism, but in the sense of making more demands on ourselves." For Dayer, this means a newspaper "with more and more in-depth research, more character, more opinions, more debates, more cheekiness, more human traits and more value for readers".
In short, the energetic boss wants to turn the tabloid into a "popular quality newspaper". This includes the new sections that accompany the reader throughout the week, such as psychology, work, health, science and cuisine. This includes publishing an Edito every day, as well as a daily press drawing and a small comic strip by two young artists from French-speaking Switzerland. "The daily dialogue with readers is important to us," emphasizes Dayer: instead of half a page, there is a double page of reader reactions every day, which are designed to be interactive and also incorporate the redesigned website.
Sport and celebrities remain the focus of interest, but Dayer also wants to work with more personal formats in sport. And what about celebrity journalism, which the free competition indulges in? "This is precisely where we want to offer journalistic added value: no longer stringing news together, but analyzing phenomena and discovering trends." In the brand new issue from September 30, we find out, for example, what tennis man Wawrinka takes with him on his travels and why stars and starlets are now indulging in barefoot fashion - the new Matin doesn't always escape the genre's inherent irrelevance.
Targeting committed citizens
The article on the army's helicopters, for example, is surprising and interesting: without increasing the length of the article, which is usual for tabloid newspapers, the journalist manages to provide a maximum of exclusive information and statements. Page 3 is also original, with three short pieces on one political figure each, written in a very subjective commentary style.
Dayer is convinced that the paper will reach a new, additional target audience: Young, urban thirtysomethings "who are keen to play a role as 'citoyens', as committed citizens". And when asked why people should buy the Matin when the Matin Bleu is free, she says modestly: "Two francs twenty to understand the world, that's not too expensive."
Ariane Dayer loves building model sailing ships in her free time. Since becoming deputy editor-in-chief at Matin, she has hardly been able to get around to it: "I've only been struggling with newspaper models for a year now." She still has an unfinished sailing ship on her dresser. The most difficult moment in model making? "Setting the sails." - Bon vent!
Helen Brügger
Ariane Dayer also has character traits that set her apart. Between 1997 and 2002, the 44-year-old from Valais made a name for herself as editor-in-chief of the Ringier news magazine L'Hebdo with her biting commentaries. "If you want to do political journalism, you need the courage to express your own opinion and dissent," is her motto.
Rich in experience - despite young age
The daughter of former Nouvelliste editor-in-chief François Dayer fell into the magic potion as a child, just like Obelix. She admired her father because he had access to all milieus and the legitimacy to speak to anyone who interested him. This led her into journalism after completing a degree in political science. As editor of the Federal Parliament, she was supposed to write gossip for the Geneva daily La Suisse, but instead she wrote political commentaries. At L'Hebdo, where she became editor-in-chief at the age of 37 thanks to the discreet influence of Frank A. Meyer, she set new standards: with part-time positions, she promoted female journalists, and with the approach of also tackling political issues through the people involved, she gave the intellectuals' daily a touch of a celebrity magazine ahead of its time.
Critics accused her of wanting to turn Hebdo into a "Hebda". Both sides remained silent about the reasons for the break between Ringier and Dayer - a dismissal that mobilized the feminists. Dayer would not be dissuaded from her path: In 2004, she enthusiastically threw herself into publishing the satirical magazine Saturne, a cheeky, beautifully designed magazine that never found a wider audience. After just two years, she had to discontinue Saturne, losing part of her savings in the process - "Totgelacht" ("Laugh to death") was the title of the last issue.
But what is a woman who knows her way around quality and magazine journalism doing at the tabloid Le Matin of all places? Paradoxically, it is precisely her previous approach that seems to predestine her for this task. After all, Le Matin, a leader in the areas of sport, faits divers and celebrities until the appearance of the commuter newspapers, suffers more than any other daily newspaper in French-speaking Switzerland from free competition that focuses on the same topics. The Matin has no choice but to raise its profile, explains Dayer: "Not in the sense of elitist journalism, but in the sense of making more demands on ourselves." For Dayer, this means a newspaper "with more and more in-depth research, more character, more opinions, more debates, more cheekiness, more human traits and more value for readers".
In short, the energetic boss wants to turn the tabloid into a "popular quality newspaper". This includes the new sections that accompany the reader throughout the week, such as psychology, work, health, science and cuisine. This includes publishing an Edito every day, as well as a daily press drawing and a small comic strip by two young artists from French-speaking Switzerland. "The daily dialogue with readers is important to us," emphasizes Dayer: instead of half a page, there is a double page of reader reactions every day, which are designed to be interactive and also incorporate the redesigned website.
Sport and celebrities remain the focus of interest, but Dayer also wants to work with more personal formats in sport. And what about celebrity journalism, which the free competition indulges in? "This is precisely where we want to offer journalistic added value: no longer stringing news together, but analyzing phenomena and discovering trends." In the brand new issue from September 30, we find out, for example, what tennis man Wawrinka takes with him on his travels and why stars and starlets are now indulging in barefoot fashion - the new Matin doesn't always escape the genre's inherent irrelevance.
Targeting committed citizens
The article on the army's helicopters, for example, is surprising and interesting: without increasing the length of the article, which is usual for tabloid newspapers, the journalist manages to provide a maximum of exclusive information and statements. Page 3 is also original, with three short pieces on one political figure each, written in a very subjective commentary style.
Dayer is convinced that the paper will reach a new, additional target audience: Young, urban thirtysomethings "who are keen to play a role as 'citoyens', as committed citizens". And when asked why people should buy the Matin when the Matin Bleu is free, she says modestly: "Two francs twenty to understand the world, that's not too expensive."
Ariane Dayer loves building model sailing ships in her free time. Since becoming deputy editor-in-chief at Matin, she has hardly been able to get around to it: "I've only been struggling with newspaper models for a year now." She still has an unfinished sailing ship on her dresser. The most difficult moment in model making? "Setting the sails." - Bon vent!
Helen Brügger
