22nd Bern Media Day: "Beware of staged stories"

Five national and an increasing number of regional Sunday newspapers want to come up with exclusive reports at the weekend. But the hunt for primeurs and exclusive reports has its pitfalls: In the absence of daily events, journalism on Sundays feeds even more than during the week on indiscretions from politics, administration and lobbies, according to a press release from the Bern Media Day. More than 100 representatives from journalism, politics and communication discussed this topic on Saturday in the auditorium of the Progr cultural center in Bern. NZZ media editor Rainer Stadler pleaded for the sustainability of articles in the Sunday press. Stories are often toned down or even refuted the next day at the latest and thus collapse.

Sarah Nowotny, editor of the NZZ am Sonntag, explained that she is often offered stories by communications people, but these are often not necessarily the best. Such an offer often forms a research approach, which in turn can lead to a new story. Her competitor, Joël Widmer, editor of the Sonntagszeitung, agreed: Lately, he had rejected more stories than he had taken on. Sometimes you also try to convince organizations to cancel a media conference on a Friday so that you can tell the story exclusively in your own paper on Sunday instead.

Any communications expert who tries to influence reporting with set stories runs the risk of triggering the opposite, warned Roland Binz, crisis communications specialist and former SBB spokesperson. "In the age of transparency, we should instead focus on dialog with all target groups," he emphasized. The same opinion was expressed by Martin Schläpfer, Head of the Economic Policy Directorate at Migros. Nevertheless, he advised political journalists to relocate to Bern. This is the only way to be close to the action and to be able to talk to someone informally. Barbara Ritschard, former staff member of Federal Councillor Moritz Leuenberger, warned journalists against hidden interests. Journalists often lack the necessary information to shed light on stories from the administration and politics.

The Bern Media Day took place for the 22nd time last Saturday, November 24. The industry event is organized by an independent organizing committee consisting of representatives from the professional organizations Impressum, Syndicom, SSM and BPRG, which also supported the event financially. The OC was supported by the sponsors Tamedia, SRG Bern Fribourg Valais, Arbeit und Bildung Bern and Burgdorfer Bier.