Analyze who wants to
Polls: Freie Presse Holding, a subsidiary of the NZZ, is launching a tool that allows regional media outlets to conduct their own opinion polls.
Surveys The NZZ subsidiary Freie Presse Holding is launching a tool for regional media to conduct their own opinion polls. When it comes to the short-term trend analysis of cantonal and national votes or the analysis and interpretation afterwards, the JRC research institute in Bern, led by political scientist Claude Longchamp, is ahead of the game on all channels in Switzerland. Longchamp's institute, which has been based in Bern for 12 years, offers a range of services in the fields of politics, society and communication. These include, for example, the Vox analyses (together with the political science institutes of the Universities of Bern, Geneva and Zurich), the Worry Barometer and the Health Monitor. The political sector is now facing competition from Freie Presse Holding, a subsidiary of NZZ and PubliGroupe. "It has long been a thorn in my side that the media, and journalists in particular, are letting the commentary on political events out of their hands," says Beat Lauber, member of the NZZ Group's Executive Board and Head of Regional Newspapers.
Lauber alludes to the voting analyses carried out by the JRC research institute, which uses a quantitatively modest sample of the population to extrapolate voting results that are then adopted by all the media. "I am particularly annoyed by the journalists who are not bothered by this," says Lauber.
Good experiences in St. GallenThese considerations led to the development of an internet-based survey tool in collaboration with the company E-Act AG in Horgen, which specializes in the development of individual software and hosting. This is called E-Ted and is operated via a web browser. E-Act AG was already the inspiration behind the development of FPH's own customer dialog system. This is primarily intended to help regional media to query customer needs and improve customer relationships via the Internet. The St. Galler Tagblatt has been using it since 2004. "The response has been exceptionally positive," says Lauber happily.
So what could be more obvious than using the technology not only for market-specific surveys, but also for socio-political issues? "In this way, we could determine the public's attitude to votes within a very short space of time, possibly even in real time," says Lauber.
He expects to receive 16,000 to 20,000 votes once the project is up and running in several media outlets. Lauber is convinced that this would also make it easy to identify regional and local differences and that media professionals could take political commentary back into their own hands.
Cost-effective toolAlike FPH's customer dialog system, E-Ted does not require server costs or software installations and is, at first glance, a data collection system. Participants who may have become aware of the existence of the tool in their personal journal are asked to log in and enter their personal data.
The media company writes to participants at will via E-Ted and asks them about their views on socio-political events using a self-created list of questions. The topics can extend to the local level, for example when it comes to the construction of new sports facilities in a community.
"The impetus for a survey can come from any medium. Media that use E-Ted can also join forces regionally and conduct corresponding surveys in specific regions," says FPH Managing Director Pepe Wiss.
At a further level, public assessments of events of supra-regional importance or cantonal or national votes can be surveyed. "The media mutually agree on a joint survey, and you would then have a benchmark and could identify regional differences," says Wiss.
He can also imagine Freie Presse Holding initiating surveys together with the company E-Act AG. In principle, Wiss sees FPH's role primarily as a coordinator, as the E-Ted tool is the responsibility of the respective medium.
But to what extent are the audience surveys using the tool representative? That depends on how many people take part in a survey. If enough people take part, then data can easily be analyzed according to age group, education, profession and other criteria, which, according to Wiss, leads to representative statements. "It's not that much witchcraft," he says.
It becomes more difficult with complex questions. The way in which the question is posed is particularly important. However, some media already have their own opinion research departments, or an expert is consulted in order not to miss the psychological aspects of a survey. "The interpretation is then up to each individual," says Wiss.
The creators of E-Ted want to introduce their idea to editors-in-chief and publishing directors of Swiss daily newspapers in the near future. E-Ted will cost CHF 5,000 per year for publications with a circulation of up to 30,000 copies and CHF 9,000 for publications with a circulation of over 75,000 copies.
Each medium only has its own database. In the case of national surveys, the participating media provide each other with data in anonymized form. "Otherwise it would clearly be a case for the data protection officer," says Pepe Wiss.
René Worni
Lauber alludes to the voting analyses carried out by the JRC research institute, which uses a quantitatively modest sample of the population to extrapolate voting results that are then adopted by all the media. "I am particularly annoyed by the journalists who are not bothered by this," says Lauber.
Good experiences in St. GallenThese considerations led to the development of an internet-based survey tool in collaboration with the company E-Act AG in Horgen, which specializes in the development of individual software and hosting. This is called E-Ted and is operated via a web browser. E-Act AG was already the inspiration behind the development of FPH's own customer dialog system. This is primarily intended to help regional media to query customer needs and improve customer relationships via the Internet. The St. Galler Tagblatt has been using it since 2004. "The response has been exceptionally positive," says Lauber happily.
So what could be more obvious than using the technology not only for market-specific surveys, but also for socio-political issues? "In this way, we could determine the public's attitude to votes within a very short space of time, possibly even in real time," says Lauber.
He expects to receive 16,000 to 20,000 votes once the project is up and running in several media outlets. Lauber is convinced that this would also make it easy to identify regional and local differences and that media professionals could take political commentary back into their own hands.
Cost-effective toolAlike FPH's customer dialog system, E-Ted does not require server costs or software installations and is, at first glance, a data collection system. Participants who may have become aware of the existence of the tool in their personal journal are asked to log in and enter their personal data.
The media company writes to participants at will via E-Ted and asks them about their views on socio-political events using a self-created list of questions. The topics can extend to the local level, for example when it comes to the construction of new sports facilities in a community.
"The impetus for a survey can come from any medium. Media that use E-Ted can also join forces regionally and conduct corresponding surveys in specific regions," says FPH Managing Director Pepe Wiss.
At a further level, public assessments of events of supra-regional importance or cantonal or national votes can be surveyed. "The media mutually agree on a joint survey, and you would then have a benchmark and could identify regional differences," says Wiss.
He can also imagine Freie Presse Holding initiating surveys together with the company E-Act AG. In principle, Wiss sees FPH's role primarily as a coordinator, as the E-Ted tool is the responsibility of the respective medium.
But to what extent are the audience surveys using the tool representative? That depends on how many people take part in a survey. If enough people take part, then data can easily be analyzed according to age group, education, profession and other criteria, which, according to Wiss, leads to representative statements. "It's not that much witchcraft," he says.
It becomes more difficult with complex questions. The way in which the question is posed is particularly important. However, some media already have their own opinion research departments, or an expert is consulted in order not to miss the psychological aspects of a survey. "The interpretation is then up to each individual," says Wiss.
The creators of E-Ted want to introduce their idea to editors-in-chief and publishing directors of Swiss daily newspapers in the near future. E-Ted will cost CHF 5,000 per year for publications with a circulation of up to 30,000 copies and CHF 9,000 for publications with a circulation of over 75,000 copies.
Each medium only has its own database. In the case of national surveys, the participating media provide each other with data in anonymized form. "Otherwise it would clearly be a case for the data protection officer," says Pepe Wiss.
René Worni
