News: Discontinuation in Basel and Bern - concentration on Zurich

As of Monday, August 31, 2009, the commuter newspaper News will concentrate on the News Tagesanzeiger edition. The editions News Basler Zeitung and News Berner Zeitung will be discontinued and will appear for the last time on Friday, August 28, 2009. Basler Zeitung Medien has reassessed its participation in NP News Print AG as part of the cost review and has decided to transfer its shares to Tamedia. Espace Media is also transferring its stake in NP News Print AG to Tamedia. With the continuation of the daily newspaper Der Bund, Espace Media is already represented in Berne with two daily newspapers. Together, Berner Zeitung and Der Bund achieve a high reach of over 45 percent in the Bern region, as Tamedia writes in a press release on Monday.

Increase reach in the greater Zurich area
News is primarily intended to attract additional readers in Zurich for the "Tagesanzeiger" media network. The commuter newspaper is distributed with a circulation of 100,000 copies in the canton of Zurich and in the central stations of the S-Bahn network in the neighboring cantons. In the medium term, the publisher is aiming for 150,000 to 200,000 readers. According to readership research by Wemf AG für Werbemedienforschung, News reached 276,000 readers with all three issues in the first few months after its launch (Mach Basic 2009-1).
The concentration on News Tagesanzeiger will not result in any reductions in the editorial team. Stefan Regez will remain editor-in-chief. As announced, the editorial team of the commuter newspaper will move into a joint newsroom with the Newsnetz editorial team at the beginning of September 2009. The collaboration between the editorial teams, which will remain independent, will then be gradually expanded.