Results matching “german dailies”

The proposed merger of two Polish dailies and the launch of an entertainment version of a political weely, both intended to conquer a new public and consolidate readership, have raised some doubts in the Polish newspaper industry.

Poland's largest business and legal daily Gazeta Prawna (87,000 paid circulation) will merge with the second quality news daily Dziennik (147,000 readership), in a 51/49% partnership between Infor Biznes and Axel Springer, their respective owners. The transaction, which will result in a combined newspaper strong in economics on one side, and politics, culture and sports on the other, is still subject to approval by the authorities.

The future of printed media has become a major political issue in countries like the United States or France, even being debated in ad-hoc committees set up by the legislative or the executive powers. Discussions along the Potomac or the Seine rivers have been focusing on the impact of Internet and new technologies, or on the need for state subsidies.

Meanwhile, on the Vltava in Prague, a group of editors and reporters working for PPF Media, the recently created division of insurance and consumer banking group PPF, is already opening new ways of covering a whole country in what may be a newsroom of the future. With other journalists for the moment based in four provincial towns from the Czech Republic, they are launching the so-called "hyperlocal weekly" Nase adresa ("our address"), which combines print and online journalism with particular efforts to sustain high professional standards and get closer to the readers.

"It can only work with well prepared journalists who will be trained in the Futuroom, our central newsroom," explains Roman Gallo, 44, director for PPF's media strategies and conceiver of the project. "We are also opening newscafés in our local bureaus, which will facilitate the contact between Nase adresa's journalists and the public, to enrich the content of our newspaper and of its webpages," adds Matej Husek, 33, director of news operations.
 
The newspoints, combining local newsrooms and Internet cafés in often small, rural towns, may be the most visible originality of this new undertaking. A few weeks before Nase adresa's launch, for instance, PPF Media's already hired staff had the chance to taste two products, the first print prototype of the weekly, and a cake likely to be served in the cafés. "The project represents a special challenge in terms of logistics, of room for storage, as we will be managing dozens of bistrot-Starbucks-like coffee shops in local newsrooms," comments Tomas Chejn, 41, the manager of PPF Media's branded cafés, a food specialist hired for his long time experience in quality catering. Petr Vitasek, 38, the director and chief editor for the Moravia region, based in the eastern Czech city of Olomouc, thinks this effort is worth the investment, because these "well located newspoints will be critical in getting Nase adresa's journalists to work closer to their readers."
 

 
But the whole project is innovative at other, multiple levels. To start with, for the first time a newspaper's birth is tightly associated to the creation of a multi-media training center - with several international partners including Google, Atex and the World Association of Newspapers/ World Editors Forum. The Futuroom will be a newsroom in charge of assisting and training in-house editors, some having no previous reporting experience, as much as a real life teaching field for future journalists. These will include a group of students within another partnership with Brno's Masaryk University, in the second largest Czech town.

Nase adresa's approach could also become a school case due to the organization of the newsroom. "I like how the Futuroom is shaped. Journalists are not confined to one theme, like health or education, but to a way of reporting, and I enjoy changing topics," says Vendula Krizova, reporter in the "Human approach team" and young (25) like many of her new colleagues. Adds Radim Klekner, 50, who joined the "Institutional team" - after working for 10 different newsrooms - to do researches on European Union institutions in particular: "Vertical structures dominate in traditional newspapers, while in Nase adresa it is more horizontal. In my case, for instance, I will be covering many European issues based on the Czech reality."


Klekner had some doubts initially, however, because he has been covering foreign news in the past 15 years.  Why would he join a hyperlocal news project as an international editor, then? "There is a need for benchmarking with other European countries in all aspects of the Czech society, and with Nase adresa I will be able to give a EU presence in the remotest Czech villages", he believes. "Our role is to assess general issues like the lack of general practitioners in the country, compared to others, and connect them to specific cases brought up by the local newsrooms."
 

 
Local journalists with long intensive experience covering their community are also convinced they are working for an innovative project. Vitasek, in Olomouc, even tried a hyperlocal news concept on his own five years ago, called Olomoucky Tydenik. "It was a weekly published on Mondays and strong on local sports, like Nase adresa. We had to stop it after one year, but this time I have with me a 10-people team supported by PPF and by the Futuroom managers and trainers. Our office, in a central strategic area of Olomouc, will be a space for constant direct contact with readers and potential contributors."

Based on her 30 year experience in local journalism, Hana Vojtova, 52, the chief editor of the Teplice newspoint, in the north Bohemian city near the border with east Germany, also believes Nase adresa is a new improvement for community journalism: "We will get nearer to the people from the region, who are tired of politics and want to be informed on human interest stories," explains Vojtova, whose district is dramatically affected by problems like crime and unemployment. "We are going to cover better our readers's activities and their dreams!"
 

 
The project has attracted several other seasoned editors from all backgrounds, including Jiri Zavozda, 50, Nase adresa's head of the copy editing team. He just finished a seven year experience in major private television "Prima", as news editor-in-chief, after working more than a decade for national newspapers. "The TV experience was good because it teaches you how to write short, but I prefer print because it is less superficial," says Zavozda. There are other reasons why he joined the Futuroom. "I see my in-laws, who live in a little village in Moravia and who have only access to media not specifically targeted to them, national daily Mlada Fronta, newsweekly Tyden and the television. Only Nase adresa will inform them well on the Sunday afternoon firemen team's competitions, which are particularly popular in the Czech republic. We will get spectacular photos of fires being extinguished!"

Adds Peter Sabata, 48, the editor-in-chief responsible for the local newsroom: "I strongly believe in the hyperlocal level of information, with the combination of newspoints, and print, online journalism. The weekly will be a bridge from now to the near future, when everybody in the regions will be connected." Sabata just moved back to the Czech republic after eight years at the head of national Slovak paper Pravda's newsroom.

 
Other Nase adresa team members are particularly enthusiastic because of the new challenges specific to a project combining teaching and praxis, online and print journalism, so far never achieved at such a level. Ondrej Besperat, 31, who manages the photo-video team in a duo with veteran photojournalist Jan Silpoch, is well aware of the differences between shooting for a newspaper or for a website. Before joining the Futuroom, he was a photographer for national daily Hospodarske Noviny and then worked for Aktualne.cz, the successful, Internet-only Czech media outlet. "In printed media, you have to do one or two pictures a day, and you invest all your energy in the best one, while in Internet, you try more different perspectives as you know that several pictures are likely to be released for each story."

Besperat anticipates he is likely to spend two third of his time training reporters from the local newsrooms, at the beginning at least. "One of the main challenges will be to shoot sport with our standard high-end amateur cameras," he says. "The idea is not to have journalists who do everything all the time, but reporters who are multifunctional, able to provide good texts and images."

 
Nase adresa will also represent new challenges beyond the expertise usually expected from  journalists, especially for the local chief editors who will have to look after a coffee shop part of their time. "Ten years ago I had a short experience working for Coca Cola, but this will be new because I am not at all a food and beverage specialist," laughs Vitasek, in Moravia. Krizova, who is glad to cover very diverse topics, is also ready for another type of special assignment as a young reporter. She will be asked to take care of children visiting the Futuroom - turned into a "Junioroom" or "media camp" - to learn how to write an article or produce a video footage.


PPF Media's project will be preparing new generations of journalists and not just showing new forms of getting and providing the news.
 

BACKGROUND
The Czech Republic is a country of 10 million people living in 14 regions subdivided in 75 districts in total. Until 20 years ago, only the government and Communist Party related entities could publish newspapers. This was also the case for the regional dailies, and for more local publications at district or town levels. German group Verlagsgruppe Passau took over most of them in 1990 and after, under its Czech branch Vltava-Labe-Press which currently controls over 10 weeklies and over 70 dailies called Denik ("daily", followed by the name of the concerned locality). Nase adresa will have no direct competitors except in a few cases, because its editions will typically cover areas of 20-30,000 people while Denik and its affiliates are designed for larger groups, of over 100,000 inhabitants on average.

Following negative press coverage of his diplomatic gaffes at the recent G20 and Nato summits, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi appears to have threatened journalists with reprisals, even implying that he is considering a government-inspired boycott. The most reported faux pas were skipping an official Nato photo and snubbing German Chancellor Angela Merkel by finishing a mobile phone conversation while she waited to greet him, and shouting out to Barack Obama during a photo call at Buckingham Palace, causing the Queen to look round in annoyance.

Speaking to reporters in Prague on Saturday, Berlusconi accused journalists of "defaming me and misinforming readers," and claimed that the Italian press had "no other aim than that of saying the prime minister has committed faux pas or gaffes." He seemed to threaten a news blackout: "I will no longer talk to you... I will no longer give news conferences," and went so far as to admit that he was tempted to call for "direct and tough action towards certain newspapers and members of the press." When asked to explain further he warned, "If I say 'don't watch a TV channel' or something, do you think that no one in Italy would follow me?"

MediaNews Group plans to test its "individuated newspaper" concept this summer in an undisclosed market. The "I-News" project will be a targeted and customized online newspaper that allows the reader to select the types of news they want delivered. "You'll be able to choose the news you want about anything, whether you're a Detroit Red Wings fan or if you're green-oriented," said Mark Winkler, executive vice president of sales and marketing for MediaNews Group. "You become your own editor and publisher."

I-News will be delivered to subscribers via their computers, cell phones, or a special stand-alone printer plugged into a phone line. The printing manufacturer and the publisher participating in the MNG experiment may subsidize ink and paper prices to offset users' costs. MNG will continue research into the role of high-speed digital printers in the future of newspapers, and it is currently working with printer company Océ to develop user-friendly products for I-News and other projects.

German market research company, Mindline Media, have released a survey indicating that the German public would like free papers.

Germany is one of the few markets in Europe which has not seen the launch of free dailies.

A thousand people between the age of 14 and 49 were questioned and 46% thought free papers would make newspapers in general more attractive. The survey also revealed that 40% wanted smaller (tabloid) newspapers. Mindline reported that Germans would like more local news (36%) and more flexible subscriptions - for instance weekend-only - (30%).

More pictures and comics were only favoured by a small minority.

Source: EJC Media, Newspaper Innovation and Horizant

Axel Springer announced plans to launch a free weekly, Berliner Morgenpost Wochenend-Extra on 20 September.  

Springer has been one of the most outspoken adversaries of free newspapers so this comes as a surprise shift in strategy.   

The paper will be distributed in the Berlin area by Deutsche Post and will have a circulation of one million.  It will contain articles from the previous week's Berliner Morgenpost, the paid Berlin paper.

Springer has been loosing young readers with their paid papers which is probably a main reason for the launch of a new free weekly.  Springer's director Mathias Döpfner sees the free paper as an "appetizer" to buy the paid one.

Germany has been a paid-for newspaper only market up until now; could Springer's move spark a change in the overall German market? Springer's move could certainly cause other players to move into this field, other newspaper groups, such as WAZ, reportedly have funds available to launch free newspapers in the event of a move such as Springer's launch of Berliner Morgenpost Wochenend-Extra.

Sources: Newspaper Innovation

See also:

Germany: Why the lack of free dailies?
Germany: Axel Springer plans online expansion through acquisitions and new units

91.4% of the Swiss population read a newspaper on a regular basis according to an annual survey recently published, and newspapers remain the favored news source.

The survey also indicated that there has been an increasing interest in free dailies.

There are three main languages in Switzerland, German (64%), French (20%) and Italian (6,5%), so there are no "national" newspapers.


Sources:  Follow the Media, Newspaper Innovation

See Also:
Switzerland: Free daily newspapers move ahead 

The German market at first appearance would seem the perfect place to start up a free daily newspaper, but the market remains untapped, report Newspaper Innovations. German publishers seem determinedly anti-free dailies, overlooking the chance they represent.

Metro and Schibsted wanted to go to Germany while Dagsbrun also (Iceland) made plans. These incumbents have met with difficulty in the home market. Springer reportedly has a 'war fund' of EUR300 million ready and could launch competitor Gratissimo 'within days', and WAZ - the second largest German publisher - also wants to fight a free daily launch.

FTD cites 'informed sources' who report that it would take at least six years for a German project to break even, and that it would cost at least EUR400 million. Newspaper Innovation ask how this figure is calculated as launching costs are between EUR10 and EUR20 million in Spain, France, UK and the Netherlands.

The article even states that the actions of some players in the market could be for the attention of the Bundeskartellambt, the German anti-competition agency.

Source: Newspaper Innovation via IFRA Executive News Search
 

A new freesheet, ‘.ch’ was launched in Switzerland. Interestingly, it positions itself as a quality paper while also being home-delivered.

Axel Springer’s project for a Bild-type title in France has been confirmed, to be launched in the second half of 2007. Yet the French Bild won’t – can’t – follow the same success formula of its German tabloid counterpart, because of France’s different news culture.

Prazsky deník, the Czech Republic latest newspaper, was launched on Monday September 18 by Czech publisher Vltava-Labe-Press (VLP). The daily has an initial print run of 100.000 copies and its staff counts 90 people, including editor-in-chief Matej Husek, formerly working at the competitor Pràvo.

In their presentation for the upcoming Capital Markets Day, Norwegian publisher Schibsted officially put the German launch of the free daily 20 Minuten on hold. The title is successful in Spain and France, while also the Swiss edition, owned by Tamedia since 2005, is performing well. The risk of a launch in Germany - Europe largest newspaper market, and the only major market without free dailies - is probably too high. The company, however, is evaluating a launch in "1-2 smaller countries" of the concept. Schibsted also made clear in the presentation that they prefer to operate with partners in joint ventures - this may also have been a reason for the not-launching in Germany.

Last week readership data for Switzerland, published by WEMF REMP, showed big gains for the free paper 20 Minuten, reports KleinReport. 20 Minuten increased from 782,000 to 948,000 readers year on year, partly due to the launching of new editions, and is the biggest newspaper in the (German speaking part of the) country. The Zurich tabloid Blick lost 19,000 readers in the same time, reaching now 717,000. The well-respected Neue Zürcher Zeitung increased readership year on year from 316,000 to 331,000, but is far behind 20 Minuten. While most German language daily newspapers showed slightly decreased readership, Sunday papers (SonntagsBlick, SonntagsZeitung and NZZ am Sonntag) could increase their readership.

The biggest daily in the French speaking part, Le Matin, increased its readership from 331,000 to 353,000. Many other French languages dailies lost readers. Le Matin's publisher Edipresse plans to launch a free paper in the French speaking part before the end of the year (see former posting). The biggest Italian language daily newspaper Corriere de Ticino slightly increased readership from 113,000 to 119,000. Other Italian language dailies increased readership as well (La Regione Ticino: 111,000 from 94,000, Il Caffè della Domenica: 125,000 from 106,000, Il Mattino della Domenica: 88 000 from 82 000).

Sources: KleinReport (in German), The Guardian

Thanks to Alain Neuville, ANIMA CEO, for his authorization to publish his toughths when they are related to newspapers. This week, Alain analyzed the situation of the European Newspaper industry:

"There is at least one metric that is broadly shared by a great majority of countries; newspapers readership and circulation slump. Newspaper readership posts -0.6% in Italy. Circulation of national titles dropped by 0.5% in France. Circulation and readership are falling in Ireland. All the data recently released are in the red. The national dailies have been losing readers for some time now. The regional press had remained one of the few positive shelters in the British market. It is no longer the case since the last ABC figures have been released. In light of this difficult situation, publishers have to find new solutions..."

Thanks to Alain Neuville, ANIMA CEO, for his authorization to publish his toughths when they are related to newspapers. This week, Alain analyzed the situation of the European Newspaper industry:

"There is at least one metric that is broadly shared by a great majority of countries; newspapers readership and circulation slump. Newspaper readership posts -0.6% in Italy. Circulation of national titles dropped by 0.5% in France. Circulation and readership are falling in Ireland. All the data recently released are in the red. The national dailies have been losing readers for some time now. The regional press had remained one of the few positive shelters in the British market. It is no longer the case since the last ABC figures have been released. In light of this difficult situation, publishers have to find new solutions..."

Thanks to Alain Neuville, ANIMA CEO, for his authorization to publish his toughths when they are related to newspapers. This week, Alain analyzed the situation of the European Newspaper industry:

"There is at least one metric that is broadly shared by a great majority of countries; newspapers readership and circulation slump. Newspaper readership posts -0.6% in Italy. Circulation of national titles dropped by 0.5% in France. Circulation and readership are falling in Ireland. All the data recently released are in the red. The national dailies have been losing readers for some time now. The regional press had remained one of the few positive shelters in the British market. It is no longer the case since the last ABC figures have been released. In light of this difficult situation, publishers have to find new solutions..."

The editor of one of the most important Austrian dailies (with Der Standard) has changed: Die Presse chefredakteur is now Michael Fleischhacker.

Source: Der Standard (in German)

In 2003, the German quality newspapers lost regular buyers. The drop of circulation was around 3% for Die Welt and the Frankfurter Rundschau and more than 1,5% for the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). Figures were also bad for Bild, not precisely a quality newspaper. Conclusion: same trend in Germany and in France.

Source: Netzeitung (in German) and the Ifra newsletter.