Tamedia wants closer cooperation at Bund and Berner Zeitung
The two Bern daily newspapers, *Der Bund* and *Berner Zeitung*, will have to work more closely together in the future. That is the intention of their owner, the Zurich-based Tamedia publishing house. The unions are calling it the end of the so-called «Bern Model.».
Tamedia told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Thursday that the project of closer cooperation would start in April. The publisher is aiming to maintain both newspaper titles and continue to position them differently.
The Covenant should be more urban in orientation, the Bernese Newspaper rather rural. The reason for the project is structural: advertising sales of printed newspapers are falling continuously. Sales of subscriptions are also declining.
In August of this year, the TX Group company, to which Tamedia belongs, announced a loss of CHF 106 million in the first half of 2020. TX Group announced at the time that it would cut several dozen journalistic jobs.
Unions see Berne model in danger
The online magazine Republic wrote on Thursday that Tamedia was laying off the editorial teams of Confederation and Bernese Newspaper together. This was also the view of the media union Syndicom and the journalists' professional association Impressum, as they wrote in a statement.
Under the title "The End of the Bern Model?" they write that until now the so-called Bern newspaper model with two titles from the same city has guaranteed a certain diversity of opinion in the region. Two competing daily newspapers had provided thematic breadth and attitudes with their reports. "That could now be an end."
Markus Dütschler, co-chairman of the joint staff committee of the Bund and Berner Zeitung, spoke on request of a surprising announcement by Tamedia managers and a shock for the editors.
One could speak of an end to the Bern model in the sense that up to now, both newspapers had often reported on one and the same event. This was the case, for example, with theater premieres and parliamentary debates. Tamedia's publishing management clearly stated at a personnel briefing on Tuesday that there would no longer be any capacity for this in the future.
When asked whether the two editorial teams would be merged, Tamedia and the TX Group respectively said that no further comment would be made. (SDA)
