"Inert, matted, hostile to innovation"
Swiss publishers received rows of whistles at the Epiphany conference
Swiss publishers received a series of whistles at the Epiphany conferenceBy Markus Knöpfli At the Epiphany conference, several speakers took a swipe at Swiss publishers. The harshest criticism came from former Swissair spokeswoman Beatrice Tschanz: she scourged the poor communication of the major Swiss publishers.
The slap in the face that hurt the assembled publishers the most was delivered by Josef Trappel from Prognos AG. He said that Swiss media companies were sluggish, not very innovation-friendly and too intertwined. Although this has already saved them from making huge bad investments, it has also impaired their media and journalistic performance and the Swiss market as a whole. Depending on how innovative Switzerland proves to be in the online sector or in the digitization of electronic media, for example, it could serve as a test market for new media products or services for international companies thanks to its small size and multilingualism - or it may only come into play after the fact. Trappel, who saw a light on the economic horizon again from 2003, therefore called on publishers to make fundamental strategic decisions soon.
Norbert Specker, CEO of Interactive Publishing GmbH, also criticized the fact that Swiss publishers lacked their own impetus, especially when it came to developing new forms of online advertising. In this respect, too much focus is placed on PubliGroupe, whereas the integration of advertising partners is an integral part of every single media company, Specker warned.
However, the slap in the face that drew the loudest applause came from Beatrice Tschanz, the only speaker. The current Head of Communications at Sulzer Medica castigated NZZ, Tages-Anzeiger, Basler Zeitung, Aargauer Zeitung and Berner Zeitung for the unannounced and apparently agreed newsstand price increase at the beginning of the year.
She then described Michael Ringier's communication behavior in connection with the Jean Frey deal as "embarrassing" (applause from the audience). Communication is a matter for the boss, so it is not acceptable not to comment on a merger and then answer a few friendly questions in the group's own Sunday paper a short time later, she said. Media companies need to rethink their own communication, she continued. And to Fridolin Luchsinger, Peter Hartmeier & Co. she added: "Corporate communicators are service providers. At all times!"
Only Tamedia is currently cooking up smaller multimedia soups
Martin Kall, Head of International at Ringier and designated CEO of Tamedia, initially seemed somewhat milder. He credited the general publishing guild with having to live with more competition than their German colleagues, for example. However, his statement that it was "dangerous for a major Swiss publisher not to take an interest in foreign countries" was probably a criticism of Tamedia's strategy to date. And the question of why commuter newspapers were not an idea of the Swiss publishers probably annoyed the major Zurich publishers, as they had examined such an idea in the mid-1990s - and then rejected it.
Although Michael Ringier, CEO of the Ringier Group, concluded the round of speakers with a brilliant speech, he did not want to counter the concentrated criticism. He contented himself with throwing a few punches - especially in the direction of the currently weakened Tamedia. He dismissed the TV-3 concept as "ratings through obscenities". A statement by TV-3 boss Jürg Wildberger, according to which he described "Big Brother" as a sociological experiment, was described by Ringier as "intellectual nonsense". And under the pretext of wanting to keep journalistic quality high in his own company, he finally gave the following advice to his editors-in-chief: "Take less care of the analysts and more care of the journalists." Which in turn amounted to a spearhead against Tamedia.
Hans Heinrich Coninx, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tamedia, was unable to defend himself. Not only was he the first speaker, he also did not appear to be in a defensive mood. In his rather dry speech, he came across as serious, almost humble. Although he spoke in a statesmanlike manner about joining the UN, banking secrecy and the Regli case, this was probably only to conceal his admiring sideways glance at the competition (NZZ, commuter newspapers, Ringier), whose courage for new projects he praised. There was no mention of his own projects or ideas, only the admission that the departure from TV 3 and Moneycab had been "painful" and that Tamedia would be cooking its own multimedia soup on a smaller fire in future.
The slap in the face that hurt the assembled publishers the most was delivered by Josef Trappel from Prognos AG. He said that Swiss media companies were sluggish, not very innovation-friendly and too intertwined. Although this has already saved them from making huge bad investments, it has also impaired their media and journalistic performance and the Swiss market as a whole. Depending on how innovative Switzerland proves to be in the online sector or in the digitization of electronic media, for example, it could serve as a test market for new media products or services for international companies thanks to its small size and multilingualism - or it may only come into play after the fact. Trappel, who saw a light on the economic horizon again from 2003, therefore called on publishers to make fundamental strategic decisions soon.
Norbert Specker, CEO of Interactive Publishing GmbH, also criticized the fact that Swiss publishers lacked their own impetus, especially when it came to developing new forms of online advertising. In this respect, too much focus is placed on PubliGroupe, whereas the integration of advertising partners is an integral part of every single media company, Specker warned.
However, the slap in the face that drew the loudest applause came from Beatrice Tschanz, the only speaker. The current Head of Communications at Sulzer Medica castigated NZZ, Tages-Anzeiger, Basler Zeitung, Aargauer Zeitung and Berner Zeitung for the unannounced and apparently agreed newsstand price increase at the beginning of the year.
She then described Michael Ringier's communication behavior in connection with the Jean Frey deal as "embarrassing" (applause from the audience). Communication is a matter for the boss, so it is not acceptable not to comment on a merger and then answer a few friendly questions in the group's own Sunday paper a short time later, she said. Media companies need to rethink their own communication, she continued. And to Fridolin Luchsinger, Peter Hartmeier & Co. she added: "Corporate communicators are service providers. At all times!"
Only Tamedia is currently cooking up smaller multimedia soups
Martin Kall, Head of International at Ringier and designated CEO of Tamedia, initially seemed somewhat milder. He credited the general publishing guild with having to live with more competition than their German colleagues, for example. However, his statement that it was "dangerous for a major Swiss publisher not to take an interest in foreign countries" was probably a criticism of Tamedia's strategy to date. And the question of why commuter newspapers were not an idea of the Swiss publishers probably annoyed the major Zurich publishers, as they had examined such an idea in the mid-1990s - and then rejected it.
Although Michael Ringier, CEO of the Ringier Group, concluded the round of speakers with a brilliant speech, he did not want to counter the concentrated criticism. He contented himself with throwing a few punches - especially in the direction of the currently weakened Tamedia. He dismissed the TV-3 concept as "ratings through obscenities". A statement by TV-3 boss Jürg Wildberger, according to which he described "Big Brother" as a sociological experiment, was described by Ringier as "intellectual nonsense". And under the pretext of wanting to keep journalistic quality high in his own company, he finally gave the following advice to his editors-in-chief: "Take less care of the analysts and more care of the journalists." Which in turn amounted to a spearhead against Tamedia.
Hans Heinrich Coninx, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tamedia, was unable to defend himself. Not only was he the first speaker, he also did not appear to be in a defensive mood. In his rather dry speech, he came across as serious, almost humble. Although he spoke in a statesmanlike manner about joining the UN, banking secrecy and the Regli case, this was probably only to conceal his admiring sideways glance at the competition (NZZ, commuter newspapers, Ringier), whose courage for new projects he praised. There was no mention of his own projects or ideas, only the admission that the departure from TV 3 and Moneycab had been "painful" and that Tamedia would be cooking its own multimedia soup on a smaller fire in future.
