Messenger does not like foreign reeves
Newspapers Defeat for the Neue Luzerner Zeitung: It was unable to win over the messenger of Urschweiz. He remains with Südostschweiz.
Newspapers Defeat for the Neue Luzerner Zeitung: it was unable to win over the messenger of Urschweiz. I am delighted that after seven years, all our partners now want to work even more closely together," says Hanspeter Lebrument, head of the Südostschweiz Media Group in Chur. In fact, he has succeeded not only in extending the cooperation in the editorial and advertising areas until the end of 2015, but also in deepening it to some extent in the printing area. In 2003, five of the participating publishers decided to set up a joint printing center in Haag, Canton St. Gallen. However, Lebrument's media group now also has a stake in Triner AG in Schwyz. This company publishes the Boten der Urschweiz (15,015 copies), which is part of the Südostschweiz (SO) group, and wants to expand its own printing plant with the existing printing press of the Berner Bund (around 60,000 copies) in order to be able to print continuously in four colors from 2006.
However, as Triner AG is thus creating huge overcapacities for itself, which represent a risk, it agreed a share swap of 10 percent each with the Südostschweiz Media Group. The two companies are also mutually represented on each other's board of directors.
This deepening of the relationship with the Urschweiz Messenger is of particular importance to the SO: The Neue Luzerner Zeitung (Neue LZ) had also offered to cooperate with the Messenger - with the aim of merging it with the Neue Schwyzer Zeitung (4070 copies), a regional edition of the Neue LZ, and also producing it in its own Lucerne printing center.
Instead, Bote publisher Hugo Triner has now tied himself even more closely to the SO than before. The main reason he cites is the "federalist system, which enables our newspaper to maintain its regional character. With the Neue LZ, his newspaper would have merely become a header paper. In addition, the past seven SO years had been successful. Triner: "Today, the Bote is involved in the majority of national campaigns; before, it was only included in 25 to 30 percent."
However, he did not conceal the fact that he "does not view the concentration process in the Zurich area so positively. This was another reason why he had not wanted to join the NZZ subsidiary Neue LZ. "I'm happy to stay out of this concentration of power," says Triner.
Erwin Bachmann, delegate of LZ Medien, confirms that he would have been "very happy" to work with the messenger. "From a political, social and economic point of view, a Central Switzerland solution would have made sense," he says. "For us, however, the situation now remains as it was." To be sure, he says, Neue LZ will try even harder to increase the reach of its own Schwyz regional edition. "But there are no feelings of revenge." Bachmann went on to point out that Triner was taking a relatively high risk with the Bund's second-hand printing press, quite apart from the fact that Triner AG and LZ Medien would continue to be direct competitors in the future in this already tough business.
Despite the extension of the SO contract, it is possible that one of the 13 partners, the Liechtensteiner Volksblatt (LVB), will drop out of the SO at the end of 2006. This is because the LVB - in contrast to the Liechtensteiner Vaterland - has never signed the SO contract so far, but was merely an associated SO member. "Because the LVB was printed with us, it had the opportunity to join the association," says Lebrument. For the past year, however, the LVB has been printed by Eugen A. Russ in Vorarlberg. Nevertheless, it maintained its cooperation with SO in the advertising sector - until the end of 2006. Lebrument left it open whether the cooperation would continue after that. In 2003, he had said that a cooperation with only one Liechtenstein daily newspaper was "probable". (mk)
Liaison with Verbund Südostschweiz instead of with Neuer LZ: Bote publisher Hugo Triner.
Markus Knöpfli
However, as Triner AG is thus creating huge overcapacities for itself, which represent a risk, it agreed a share swap of 10 percent each with the Südostschweiz Media Group. The two companies are also mutually represented on each other's board of directors.
This deepening of the relationship with the Urschweiz Messenger is of particular importance to the SO: The Neue Luzerner Zeitung (Neue LZ) had also offered to cooperate with the Messenger - with the aim of merging it with the Neue Schwyzer Zeitung (4070 copies), a regional edition of the Neue LZ, and also producing it in its own Lucerne printing center.
Instead, Bote publisher Hugo Triner has now tied himself even more closely to the SO than before. The main reason he cites is the "federalist system, which enables our newspaper to maintain its regional character. With the Neue LZ, his newspaper would have merely become a header paper. In addition, the past seven SO years had been successful. Triner: "Today, the Bote is involved in the majority of national campaigns; before, it was only included in 25 to 30 percent."
However, he did not conceal the fact that he "does not view the concentration process in the Zurich area so positively. This was another reason why he had not wanted to join the NZZ subsidiary Neue LZ. "I'm happy to stay out of this concentration of power," says Triner.
Erwin Bachmann, delegate of LZ Medien, confirms that he would have been "very happy" to work with the messenger. "From a political, social and economic point of view, a Central Switzerland solution would have made sense," he says. "For us, however, the situation now remains as it was." To be sure, he says, Neue LZ will try even harder to increase the reach of its own Schwyz regional edition. "But there are no feelings of revenge." Bachmann went on to point out that Triner was taking a relatively high risk with the Bund's second-hand printing press, quite apart from the fact that Triner AG and LZ Medien would continue to be direct competitors in the future in this already tough business.
Despite the extension of the SO contract, it is possible that one of the 13 partners, the Liechtensteiner Volksblatt (LVB), will drop out of the SO at the end of 2006. This is because the LVB - in contrast to the Liechtensteiner Vaterland - has never signed the SO contract so far, but was merely an associated SO member. "Because the LVB was printed with us, it had the opportunity to join the association," says Lebrument. For the past year, however, the LVB has been printed by Eugen A. Russ in Vorarlberg. Nevertheless, it maintained its cooperation with SO in the advertising sector - until the end of 2006. Lebrument left it open whether the cooperation would continue after that. In 2003, he had said that a cooperation with only one Liechtenstein daily newspaper was "probable". (mk)
Liaison with Verbund Südostschweiz instead of with Neuer LZ: Bote publisher Hugo Triner.
Markus Knöpfli
