Not for wimps
Oliver Classen on the opportunities and risks of a second tabloid.
Oliver Classen on the opportunities and risks of a second tabloid The speculation about a "right-wing" Blick alternative - in the political and qualitative double sense - is almost as old as Frank A. Meyer's invention of the emancipated tabloid. Ex-editor-in-chief Peter Uebersax alone, who whipped the circulation to almost 400,000 copies with a lot of blood and bosom, was asked twice after his departure in 1986 whether he would be available for this: first by the powerful publisher of the Haider-affiliated Kronenzeitung, then by Christoph Blocher himself.Ringier had the resulting war costs and the then still unchecked progress of its newspaper flagship to thank for the fact that these attack plans were buried. Today, however, Blick is known to be languishing at a circulation of 275,000 copies, with a tendency to fall further in the medium term at the same price - despite tabloids and terror. And: since the political shift to the right, the former regulars' table organ has also weakened more clearly than ever in journalistic terms.
So the time seems right for the "rude and disrespectful megaphone for the people's voice" that Uebersax recently called for in Weltwoche. But beware: neither the 1,200,000 lost Blick customers nor the presumed 100,000 more who would abandon the now mannerly mass-circulation paper if an alternative were offered are a guarantee of success. In addition to journalistic verve, this would require above all non-partisan credibility, also to reduce any fear of contact in the "effeminate" Swiss advertising market.
A financial show of strength from circles close to the SVP therefore seems ill-advised and unlikely, also because Ringier could, in a defensive reflex (and contrary to FAM's doctrine), once again prescribe more radicalism and proximity to the people for its Blick. "We are not wimps", editor-in-chief Werner De Schepper prophylactically announces via the in-house Schweizer Illustrierte. However, this could and should also apply to any future opponents (or their financial backers).
> Oliver Classen, Editor
So the time seems right for the "rude and disrespectful megaphone for the people's voice" that Uebersax recently called for in Weltwoche. But beware: neither the 1,200,000 lost Blick customers nor the presumed 100,000 more who would abandon the now mannerly mass-circulation paper if an alternative were offered are a guarantee of success. In addition to journalistic verve, this would require above all non-partisan credibility, also to reduce any fear of contact in the "effeminate" Swiss advertising market.
A financial show of strength from circles close to the SVP therefore seems ill-advised and unlikely, also because Ringier could, in a defensive reflex (and contrary to FAM's doctrine), once again prescribe more radicalism and proximity to the people for its Blick. "We are not wimps", editor-in-chief Werner De Schepper prophylactically announces via the in-house Schweizer Illustrierte. However, this could and should also apply to any future opponents (or their financial backers).
> Oliver Classen, Editor
