Beo Newspaper Is Already Over
Just four months after its launch, the free weekly newspaper for the Bernese Oberland has already come to an end. The Beo Zeitung did not appear this Thursday.
Editor-in-Chief Matthias Mast confirmed a report to that effect in the newspaper *Berner Oberländer*. He expressed surprise at the decision by the funders; after all, the project had only just begun to gain momentum. «I feel especially sorry for the staff,» said Mast. He himself had merely worked on a contract basis; the contract was set to expire this Friday anyway. Two part-time positions in the editorial department and four jobs in sales would be affected by the project’s collapse. The paper also employed freelance staff.
The Beo Zeitung was first published on October 31 and was distributed to over 120,000 households throughout the region (Werbewoche.ch reported). The paper sought to appeal to a «pan-Oberland identity» and thus distinguish itself from existing newspapers, which were limited to a small area—such as a valley district. A family of publishers from the Baden region served as the financial backers. The newspaper was also printed there. (SDA)
