Historical photo: One of the first editions of the Badisches Tagblatt under the umbrella brand of BNN ran out of the printing tower. Photo: Rake Hora /BNN
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In the theory of color interpretation and color symbolism, blue stands for prudence, objectivity, neutrality and clarity – values that are also embodied in the Badische Latest News (BNN) and the Badisches Tagblatt (BT). It would probably have been a bit too much of a fantastic interpretation to give a deeper meaning to the fact that the very first printed copy of the new edition of the Badisches Tagblatt under the umbrella brand of BNN had a bold blue stripe down the page. In the end, it was probably just a printing error that disappeared after the correct setting of the press just a few copies later.
A shared daily newspaper: what belongs together comes together
But anyone who held the new BT in their hands, still wet, fresh from the printing towers, had the feeling of experiencing something special. The moment was always historic. For the first time since the merger of the publishers BNN and BT more than two years ago, there were no longer two different daily newspapers, but a joint publishing product. The last traditional BT rolled off the assembly line at the Badisches Druckhaus in Oos-West on Thursday night. And then, one day later, in the night from Friday to Saturday, things that belonged together for a long time came together.
BNN publisher Klaus Michael Baur (right) in conversation with printing technician Rainer Braun while printing the last traditional Badisches Tagblatt in the Badisches Druckhaus in Baden-Baden. Photo: Frank Vetter
And with good reason: it is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible, especially for smaller publishers to offer independent, regional and local journalism from well-trained editors. Production, distribution and printing are too expensive. Large media holding companies then often take over the “small ones”, slim them down massively or stamp them out entirely. This is exactly what the Badisches Tagblatt and Badische Latest News wanted and want to avoid with their merger.
The edition of the Badisches Tagblatt under the umbrella brand of the Badische Latest News is “a bundling of Baden interests in the increasingly hard-fought media landscape,” emphasizes BNN publisher Klaus Michael Baur. Two professionals are now working together as one strong hand; two partners who know their territory, their business and the market.
We want to secure and further strengthen local journalism
Klaus-Michael Baur
BNN publishers to merge BNN and BT
A path that experts in the industry classify as good, correct and exemplary. A path that provides stability for the challenges of constantly changing media consumption, for the changes caused by digital change and for coping with the extremely increased production costs.
Massive cost increases
“The challenges are enormous, especially with the printed newspaper. We have massive cost increases for paper and energy, i.e. for newspaper production, as well as for delivery. Distribution and delivery make up more than 50 percent of the costs. Publishers cannot simply pass this on to readers,” explains Holger Paesler, Managing Director of the Association of Southwest German Newspaper Publishers. Therefore, only a certain company size gives the necessary stability and time to cope with these changes. Size is not everything, but “the business becomes too complex below a certain company size”.
The newspaper is urgently needed
Bernhard Pörksen
media scientist
According to the association’s managing director, variety and diversity are only lost through mergers of newspapers if savings are then made on the editorial team. A possibility that BNN boss Baur does not consider. Rather, the aim of the marriage between BNN and BT, with a view to Mittelbaden, was to secure and strengthen local journalism and to defend it against the entry of an anonymous media holding.
Former executives of the Badisches Tagblatt, who are now executives of BNN, present the new Badisches Tagblatt together with publisher Klaus Michael Baur (right). Photo: Rake Hora /BNN
A fight that the Badisches Tagblatt, with its almost 30,000 subscribers recently, could no longer have survived on its own. At the same time, however, a fight that is classified as very important for society and for democracy. “In times of an ongoing communications revolution, fake news and the tabloid spectacle, the regional daily newspaper is urgently needed,” writes the renowned Tübingen media scientist Bernhard Pörksen in an essay entitled “The Splitting Medium”.
The Stuttgart media scientist Katarina Bader gets to the heart of the problem. It is true that the more competing, serious reporting, the better for opinion-forming. But “this is not a request concert. Newspaper publishers are also commercial enterprises and have to finance themselves”.
Historic moment: Sina Arimont, product manager for the ePaper, presents the first digital edition of the Badisches Tagblatt as a newspaper brand of the Badische Latest News in the publishing house in Karlsruhe. Photo: Rake Hora
And that is also possible. Bader and Poerksen are convinced of that. Although there is no “concept”, there are some important factors. “The local must be defined as a success factor,” Bader confirms the line of the house BNN. It also makes the strength of this strategy clear: reputable daily newspaper publishers have well-trained editors who “follow certain research rules and carry out systematic research,” says Bader. An education that takes time and money. Time and money that BT and BNN have always taken into their own hands – and want to continue to do so in a future-oriented manner, as publisher Baur emphasizes. As a strong and reliable institution on the newspaper market, with the BT as the Central Baden newspaper brand of the BNN.
The paths are divided in two. Fast, reliable information, combined with background information, is the main focus of the online presence. Of course, all the content of the printed newspaper is also available there.
Printed daily newspaper has a new role
The latter, on the other hand, will increasingly play a new role, which is to be strengthened in the BNN publishing house and implemented with a keen eye for regional issues. “The daily newspaper can’t win the race for the topicality cup anyway,” says Pörksen. With her knowledge of the situation on site, she can provide background information that the fast-paced Internet does not have. “She is ideally a medium of second thought.”
2023-06-30 22:25:08
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