Missed opportunity
Commentary: The collective drop in circulation is further damaging the press's image. Unnecessarily so, says Oliver Classen.
Commentary The collective slump in circulation is causing further damage to the image of the press. Whether the Swiss press is experiencing an epochal structural crisis or a mere cyclical slump is highly controversial within the industry. What is clear, however, is that the disappointing Wemf figures, or more precisely their tendentious communication, are grist to the mill of public doomsayers, who are also to be found in newspaper editorial offices, where writers are happily sawing away at the branch on which they themselves are (still) sitting. This is paradoxical, but not reprehensible. Unless, that is, the bogeyman chant about the loss of importance of print journalism is orchestrated with circulation figures instead of the much more relevant reach figures in this context. This is not only the case at the Berner Bund, where the current certification is lightly interpreted as an indication of the "further erosion of the Swiss readership".
Experience shows that newspapers and magazines may be bought less in times of crisis, but they are read all the more intensively and by more people. Alexander Theobald, Head of Magazines at Tamedia, also pointed this out in a recent interview. And with regard to his problem child Facts (-22%!), he added: "Even here, readership is growing slightly."
Such corrections are necessary, but are only heard in specialist circles at best. The general public, on the other hand, believes the myth of exponentially increasing disinterest in paid newspapers. In order to prevent this misinformation from becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, there is an urgent need to counteract it through communication. And not just as part of "professional generic marketing for the reader market", as Daniel Kaczynski announced in this newspaper for the fall. But immediately.
It may be that the unpleasant Wemf decision caught the newly appointed CEO of the Swiss Press Association on the wrong foot. However, instead of their new chief lobbyist, Hans Heinrich Coninx or Michael Ringier could have had a word of clarification themselves. Their respective annual press conferences would have been an ideal platform for this. But there, the two major publishers merely represented their own particular interests. Anything else would have been surprising - and would therefore have had a great impact on the media. So the overdue image work for the Swiss press remains purely a matter for the associations.
>Oliver Classen, Editor
Experience shows that newspapers and magazines may be bought less in times of crisis, but they are read all the more intensively and by more people. Alexander Theobald, Head of Magazines at Tamedia, also pointed this out in a recent interview. And with regard to his problem child Facts (-22%!), he added: "Even here, readership is growing slightly."
Such corrections are necessary, but are only heard in specialist circles at best. The general public, on the other hand, believes the myth of exponentially increasing disinterest in paid newspapers. In order to prevent this misinformation from becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, there is an urgent need to counteract it through communication. And not just as part of "professional generic marketing for the reader market", as Daniel Kaczynski announced in this newspaper for the fall. But immediately.
It may be that the unpleasant Wemf decision caught the newly appointed CEO of the Swiss Press Association on the wrong foot. However, instead of their new chief lobbyist, Hans Heinrich Coninx or Michael Ringier could have had a word of clarification themselves. Their respective annual press conferences would have been an ideal platform for this. But there, the two major publishers merely represented their own particular interests. Anything else would have been surprising - and would therefore have had a great impact on the media. So the overdue image work for the Swiss press remains purely a matter for the associations.
>Oliver Classen, Editor
