Where there was once a concrete wall, it is crumbling
Code of Ethics: Pressure from the advertising market is making the boundaries between the publishing department and the editorial department increasingly blurred—even when it comes to advertising.
The pressure of the advertising market is making the boundaries between publishers and editors ever more permeable - even for advertising: the NZZ does not recognize media partnerships, the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal never advertises for his paper. The German quality press also finds it difficult at times. But for most media it is common practice: when it comes to big business with major advertisers, it is almost normal for the editorial management to sit at the negotiating table. We are talking about the commercialization of editorial offices, where advertisers encounter little resistance when they want to place their messages in the editorial environment (see page 21). Gone are the days when advertising salespeople and journalists met with skepticism, the former in the knowledge that their job secures the existence of the paper, the latter because journalistic independence per se takes precedence over disdainful economic constraints. "This garden-variety thinking no longer works these days," says Rico Brazerol, Managing Director of Contract Media Publishing AG (CMP). Times have dawned where cooperation between editors and publishers must be institutionalized. "As editor-in-chief, you sometimes pay a visit to a customer," says Brazerol candidly.
CMP had been commissioned by Landbote to carry out an analysis, according to Brazerol three months before the 10000 copies of the falsified circulation became known, in order to free the traditional Winterthur paper from stagnation and (according to reports) internal communication paralysis. The intervention with the signature of CMP Chairman of the Board Sacha Wigdorovits, the former editor-in-chief of Blick, who had prepared the launch of 20 Minuten among other things, established an internal switchboard to make the Landbote more attractive to advertisers.
In future, the publisher and editorial team will hold regular meetings to plan supplements, media partnerships and joint campaigns. "Editors and publishers should support each other - in attracting new readers, but also advertisers," explained Denise Pernet, publishing director of the Landbote, on the forthcoming total reorganization of the paper next September (WW 26/05). The editorial management will always be present for important transactions with key customers. "I am well aware of the problem," Pernet says in response to the question about maintaining editorial independence. This is to be laid down internally in a binding charter.
Platform for sponsorsWhat takes place in a regular weekly meeting at Landbote has long been a matter of course elsewhere. "For us, such meetings are the most normal thing in the world," explains Peter Buri, Editor-in-Chief of the Aargauer Zeitung. However, the editor-in-chief does not visit customers and is not involved in negotiations with key accounts such as Media Markt, Migros or Coop. But under the pressure of dwindling advertisements, the Aargauer Zeitung also had to come up with something new and has been serving a growing number of sponsors since June 1 with the multimedia project Alltag (WW 22/05).
Peter Hartmeier, Editor-in-Chief of the Tages-Anzeiger, also admits that there are agreements between the editorial team and the publisher. "There are ongoing discussions with important customers and advertising agencies", although discounts are not the issue. Customers are more interested in journalistic content or the strategy and future of the Tages-Anzeiger. Hartmeier is not worried about the journalistic independence of Tamedia's flagship; maintaining contact with customers is a matter of course for him. "When I talk to car importers today, we talk about traffic": the allusion to the 20-year boycott of advertisements by car importer Walter Frey against the Tagi, which used to be branded as anti-car, is not without a certain amount of self-irony.
But the question is, how far should such informal contacts go, how far should publishers and editors come closer together at the cost of a possible dilution of agenda setting and editorial autonomy?
More coordination desired "Editors and publishers should generally work more closely together and jointly define their target audience," says Pepe Wyss, Managing Director of the NZZ subsidiary Freie Presse Holding, whose parent company places editorial independence above all else and where editorial and publishing cooperation takes place strictly on special pages or in supplements. For Wyss, however, it is clear that the editorial teams in the print media are split into different departments and need more coordination today. This makes it clear who deals with which topics. Wyss also believes that new forms such as the aforementioned everyday project of the Aargauer-Zeitung are worth examining. "It is completely legitimate for print media to look for new forms, provided it is clearly stated to readers what they want." Whether this is actually the case is doubtful.
For Josef Trappel, Head of the Media Institute at the University of Zurich, the commercialization of editorial offices is a problem that arises primarily through the connection with online media. "On the internet, the separation between publishers and editors has become very blurred, and this culture has a knock-on effect on print products."
Editors are too uncritical of this phenomenon. But commercialization also has its limits. According to Trappel, publishers are walking a tightrope: too much commercialism undermines the credibility of a medium and thus destroys the trust of the audience, which ultimately leads to a slump in subscriptions. "Credibility is our greatest asset, we have to make sure that it is not lost," agrees AZ Editorial Director Peter Buri.
The extent to which the everyday project contributes to strengthening the credibility of the editorial team remains to be seen. Buri is more concerned with advertising in the regional area, with the placement of PR articles in connection with new store openings, a problem he shares with many of his colleagues in the daily press. And in many places, it is the proliferation of advertisements on the pages of newspapers that is more of a concern for editors than their independence.
Peter Hartmeier doesn't exactly enjoy the colorful ads that sometimes push the editorial content of the Tages-Anzeiger to the margins. "It's unaesthetic," he says, using an adjective he doesn't want to see printed here to illustrate his point. "Otherwise I'll hear it again from the publisher."
René Worni
CMP had been commissioned by Landbote to carry out an analysis, according to Brazerol three months before the 10000 copies of the falsified circulation became known, in order to free the traditional Winterthur paper from stagnation and (according to reports) internal communication paralysis. The intervention with the signature of CMP Chairman of the Board Sacha Wigdorovits, the former editor-in-chief of Blick, who had prepared the launch of 20 Minuten among other things, established an internal switchboard to make the Landbote more attractive to advertisers.
In future, the publisher and editorial team will hold regular meetings to plan supplements, media partnerships and joint campaigns. "Editors and publishers should support each other - in attracting new readers, but also advertisers," explained Denise Pernet, publishing director of the Landbote, on the forthcoming total reorganization of the paper next September (WW 26/05). The editorial management will always be present for important transactions with key customers. "I am well aware of the problem," Pernet says in response to the question about maintaining editorial independence. This is to be laid down internally in a binding charter.
Platform for sponsorsWhat takes place in a regular weekly meeting at Landbote has long been a matter of course elsewhere. "For us, such meetings are the most normal thing in the world," explains Peter Buri, Editor-in-Chief of the Aargauer Zeitung. However, the editor-in-chief does not visit customers and is not involved in negotiations with key accounts such as Media Markt, Migros or Coop. But under the pressure of dwindling advertisements, the Aargauer Zeitung also had to come up with something new and has been serving a growing number of sponsors since June 1 with the multimedia project Alltag (WW 22/05).
Peter Hartmeier, Editor-in-Chief of the Tages-Anzeiger, also admits that there are agreements between the editorial team and the publisher. "There are ongoing discussions with important customers and advertising agencies", although discounts are not the issue. Customers are more interested in journalistic content or the strategy and future of the Tages-Anzeiger. Hartmeier is not worried about the journalistic independence of Tamedia's flagship; maintaining contact with customers is a matter of course for him. "When I talk to car importers today, we talk about traffic": the allusion to the 20-year boycott of advertisements by car importer Walter Frey against the Tagi, which used to be branded as anti-car, is not without a certain amount of self-irony.
But the question is, how far should such informal contacts go, how far should publishers and editors come closer together at the cost of a possible dilution of agenda setting and editorial autonomy?
More coordination desired "Editors and publishers should generally work more closely together and jointly define their target audience," says Pepe Wyss, Managing Director of the NZZ subsidiary Freie Presse Holding, whose parent company places editorial independence above all else and where editorial and publishing cooperation takes place strictly on special pages or in supplements. For Wyss, however, it is clear that the editorial teams in the print media are split into different departments and need more coordination today. This makes it clear who deals with which topics. Wyss also believes that new forms such as the aforementioned everyday project of the Aargauer-Zeitung are worth examining. "It is completely legitimate for print media to look for new forms, provided it is clearly stated to readers what they want." Whether this is actually the case is doubtful.
For Josef Trappel, Head of the Media Institute at the University of Zurich, the commercialization of editorial offices is a problem that arises primarily through the connection with online media. "On the internet, the separation between publishers and editors has become very blurred, and this culture has a knock-on effect on print products."
Editors are too uncritical of this phenomenon. But commercialization also has its limits. According to Trappel, publishers are walking a tightrope: too much commercialism undermines the credibility of a medium and thus destroys the trust of the audience, which ultimately leads to a slump in subscriptions. "Credibility is our greatest asset, we have to make sure that it is not lost," agrees AZ Editorial Director Peter Buri.
The extent to which the everyday project contributes to strengthening the credibility of the editorial team remains to be seen. Buri is more concerned with advertising in the regional area, with the placement of PR articles in connection with new store openings, a problem he shares with many of his colleagues in the daily press. And in many places, it is the proliferation of advertisements on the pages of newspapers that is more of a concern for editors than their independence.
Peter Hartmeier doesn't exactly enjoy the colorful ads that sometimes push the editorial content of the Tages-Anzeiger to the margins. "It's unaesthetic," he says, using an adjective he doesn't want to see printed here to illustrate his point. "Otherwise I'll hear it again from the publisher."
René Worni
