P.S. before the end - appeal for donations launched
The left-wing Zurich newspaper P.S. is on the brink of closure: The small political and cultural publication only has enough funds to last until the end of June. If it does not raise 100,000 francs by then, the newspaper will not survive the summer and will be shut down.
With a full-page appeal for donations published on Thursday in the P.S. the editorial team is trying to find the missing money. The paper has been in the red for years. Although the deficit of 50,000 francs per year is relatively small, it could never be covered in the long term.
However, for the editorial team, the sole owners of the newspaper, it is out of the question "to continue for a few more months and then leave a lot of unpaid bills behind". The decision to appeal for donations was made because there was no further potential for savings.
The print shop in Schaffhausen is already inexpensive and Swiss Post's rates are not negotiable. The wage costs for the 3.5 jobs could also not be reduced if the paper was to continue to be written professionally. The only way out was therefore the readers.
The paper is primarily read by sympathizers and members of the SP and the Greens. P.S. has a total of 1,600 paying subscribers and is published once a week. The main advertiser is the SP, which last year spent 30,000 francs on advertising, which corresponds to a quarter of the advertising revenue.
Not the first appeal for donations
This is not the first time that the newspaper P.S. has drawn attention to its poor financial situation. Before the current appeal for donations, publisher Koni Loepfe, former SP president of the city of Zurich, had already decided to take this measure several times.
In 2004, the appeal for donations appeared under the title "Dörfs es bitzeli meh si?". At that time, 50,000 francs were raised within a few weeks, making it possible to continue. (SDA)
