Reformed newspaper" project allies church papers

Five Reformed church newspapers in German-speaking Switzerland are planning to merge to form a "Reformierte Zeitung". The merger would create a monthly newspaper with a circulation of 820,000 copies. The working title of the new paper is "Reformierte Zeitung". This is not a cost-cutting project. The editorial offices in the regions would remain in place and could make a selection from the available articles. The merger would allow the Reformed press to raise its profile and increase its quality. The editors of the remaining titles will decide over the next few weeks whether to continue working on the merger project. The final decision is to be made next winter. The new press product could land in mailboxes for the first time in February 2008.
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The largest partner in the project is the Bernese Reformed Church Messenger, known as "saemann". The publisher of the paper, the "saemann" association, made the decision in principle on Thursday to develop the merger project and approved a project loan of 100,000 francs, as detailed in a press release. Other partners include the Zürcher, Bündner and Aargauer Kirchenbote as well as the Interkantonale Kirchenbote of the Reformed Churches of Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Schaffhausen, Lucerne, Obwalden, Schwyz and Uri.