Philippe Pfister on the launch of News
The new free newspaper, News, will be published for the first time on Wednesday. With an initial print run of 334,000 copies, it will be waiting for commuters and early risers in about 1,500 newspaper stands in the morning. In an interview, News Editor-in-Chief Philippe Pfister discusses the launch of his new free newspaper.
The new free newspaper News is published for the first time on Wednesday. With an initial circulation of 334,000 copies, it will be waiting for commuters and early risers in around 1,500 newspaper boxes in the morning. News editor-in-chief Philippe Pfister talks about the launch of his new free paper in an interview. WW: What editorial challenges are you facing with the launch? Philippe Pfister: We want to bring a compact, to-the-point news paper to the people. The biggest challenge is to ensure that our teams and systems mesh well so that News gets into the boxes on time. In Zurich, Basel and Berne there are basic titles that should complement News and not compete with it. How is this tightrope walk supposed to work? It's not a tightrope walk at all.
Specifically: Are you looking for primeurs at all? Of course we are. But we are a very tightly staffed editorial team with limited resources. But if we do manage to have a primeur - and I'm sure we will - then we won't feature it too small on the front page. It simply has to be relevant, exciting and interesting for a broad audience.
On the Central Plateau, you have to take a completely different approach: You can only succeed there with primeurs. We don't have any specific local pages, not even in the Mittelland. We produce more or less the same edition for the whole region, which is not very different in Bern, Basel, Zurich or the Mittelland. So we don't have to do things very differently in the Mittelland. If a Mittelland story is good, it will appear everywhere, as will one from the other three regions. We have to get a good news paper into the commuter streams, then we will be read.
How do you accompany news in the online area - the planned national portal will not be launched until spring 2008? For the next few months, news will only be available as a live paper on www.newsprint.ch. And of course also on the websites of Basler Zeitung, Berner Zeitung and Tages-Anzeiger.
The address www.news.ch is occupied by someone else - does that annoy you? No, why should it?
Media agencies are saying that the launch date for News is unfavorable. Most of the campaigns have been completed. Will News start thin? I have rather the opposite concern: I was told that the launch issue would be 48 pages long. We have had good feedback from the advertising market and hope that we can maintain this in December and beyond.
How will News be communicated? We are running an advertising campaign with advertisements and spots on local radio and TV stations. In the first few weeks, there will also be colporteurs on the road.
Interview: Markus Knöpfli
Specifically: Are you looking for primeurs at all? Of course we are. But we are a very tightly staffed editorial team with limited resources. But if we do manage to have a primeur - and I'm sure we will - then we won't feature it too small on the front page. It simply has to be relevant, exciting and interesting for a broad audience.
On the Central Plateau, you have to take a completely different approach: You can only succeed there with primeurs. We don't have any specific local pages, not even in the Mittelland. We produce more or less the same edition for the whole region, which is not very different in Bern, Basel, Zurich or the Mittelland. So we don't have to do things very differently in the Mittelland. If a Mittelland story is good, it will appear everywhere, as will one from the other three regions. We have to get a good news paper into the commuter streams, then we will be read.
How do you accompany news in the online area - the planned national portal will not be launched until spring 2008? For the next few months, news will only be available as a live paper on www.newsprint.ch. And of course also on the websites of Basler Zeitung, Berner Zeitung and Tages-Anzeiger.
The address www.news.ch is occupied by someone else - does that annoy you? No, why should it?
Media agencies are saying that the launch date for News is unfavorable. Most of the campaigns have been completed. Will News start thin? I have rather the opposite concern: I was told that the launch issue would be 48 pages long. We have had good feedback from the advertising market and hope that we can maintain this in December and beyond.
How will News be communicated? We are running an advertising campaign with advertisements and spots on local radio and TV stations. In the first few weeks, there will also be colporteurs on the road.
Interview: Markus Knöpfli
