Press releases per agency
Agencies: The SDA is in the process of realigning itself. It is also examining the NZZ Group's "Pressenetz" concept.
Agencies SDA is undergoing a process of realignment. It is also examining the NZZ Group's press network idea.Times are constantly changing in the media business. The traditional Swiss News Agency (SDA), based in Berne and run as a cooperative by the Swiss media houses, is also feeling the effects. Last October, something happened that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. When the agency wanted to cancel the tabloid discount for Blick and SonntagBlick, the two Ringier titles put pressure on the agency and canceled their SDA subscriptions. Ringier would have had to pay double for continued use. The loss tore a hole of around CHF 1 million in SDA's coffers. The fact that a publisher can afford to take this step shows how the ways in which information is obtained have shifted. The exclusivity of news agencies' offerings, which they have by virtue of their networking with the media, is becoming increasingly less important in the wake of the possibilities offered by the Internet. "In the past, the agency was the only institution with such a network," says Bernhard Maissen, Editor-in-Chief and SDA Managing Director. This is why the agency is always looking for new business areas. However, the agency's core business, the basic service for practically all Swiss media houses, accounts for such a large proportion of the total annual turnover of around 28 million francs that it cannot be changed in the short term, says Maissen.
However, SDA's technical platform, which is very familiar in the editorial offices and integrated into the work processes, could be used more widely. Beat Lauber, Managing Director of Freie Presse Holding, a subsidiary of NZZ and PubliGroupe, came up with this idea. Last year, Lauber realized that his press network idea, which he had offered to the editorial offices, had received little or no attention. The essence of the idea is that editorial offices can help themselves to a pool of articles that they feed themselves. This was also intended to create competition among journalists in terms of content, which would increase the quality of the articles and thus go beyond existing manual solutions. The idea did not work because many editorial offices have already made a virtue of necessity due to scarce resources and exchange articles and contributions as required.
Technical stumbling blocksCost pressure and falling advertising revenues led to well-functioning cooperation models and mantel solutions in many places. An independent platform for exchanging articles seemed superfluous. Ultimately, the idea also failed due to its technical implementation. Lauber now wants to launch his press network a second time and has met with interest from the SDA. "We are always interested in new ideas and projects that are congruent with our customers," confirms Maissen. The SDA Board of Directors also recently discussed the idea at its regular retreat. They now want to clarify how great the need is among media companies for an additional service.
"At first, we didn't think SDA was capable of this, otherwise we would have come up with the idea earlier," says Lauber. By offering journalistic articles via the SDA network, the agency would be bringing the competition into its own house, so to speak. However, Lauber believes that SDA has understood that the Pressenetz idea could enable a change from the traditional SDA offering to other forms of offerings.
Nevertheless, the agency is somewhat cautious. Above all, they do not see themselves in a position to pre-finance such projects. The skepticism is also based on the failure of the idea in practice so far. According to Maissen, the prerequisite would be that the SDA receives a positive response from the larger publishing houses. But Maissen emphasizes: "We might really be the partner that could get such an idea off the ground."
René Worni
However, SDA's technical platform, which is very familiar in the editorial offices and integrated into the work processes, could be used more widely. Beat Lauber, Managing Director of Freie Presse Holding, a subsidiary of NZZ and PubliGroupe, came up with this idea. Last year, Lauber realized that his press network idea, which he had offered to the editorial offices, had received little or no attention. The essence of the idea is that editorial offices can help themselves to a pool of articles that they feed themselves. This was also intended to create competition among journalists in terms of content, which would increase the quality of the articles and thus go beyond existing manual solutions. The idea did not work because many editorial offices have already made a virtue of necessity due to scarce resources and exchange articles and contributions as required.
Technical stumbling blocksCost pressure and falling advertising revenues led to well-functioning cooperation models and mantel solutions in many places. An independent platform for exchanging articles seemed superfluous. Ultimately, the idea also failed due to its technical implementation. Lauber now wants to launch his press network a second time and has met with interest from the SDA. "We are always interested in new ideas and projects that are congruent with our customers," confirms Maissen. The SDA Board of Directors also recently discussed the idea at its regular retreat. They now want to clarify how great the need is among media companies for an additional service.
"At first, we didn't think SDA was capable of this, otherwise we would have come up with the idea earlier," says Lauber. By offering journalistic articles via the SDA network, the agency would be bringing the competition into its own house, so to speak. However, Lauber believes that SDA has understood that the Pressenetz idea could enable a change from the traditional SDA offering to other forms of offerings.
Nevertheless, the agency is somewhat cautious. Above all, they do not see themselves in a position to pre-finance such projects. The skepticism is also based on the failure of the idea in practice so far. According to Maissen, the prerequisite would be that the SDA receives a positive response from the larger publishing houses. But Maissen emphasizes: "We might really be the partner that could get such an idea off the ground."
René Worni
