Bündner Zeitung (1975–1997)

The Bündner Zeitung was a daily newspaper with a wide range of opinions for Graubünden published by Gasser AG in Chur . It appeared from 1975 to 1997 as the successor to the democratic Neue Bündner Zeitung and the liberal Free Councilor . In 1997 it became the Graubünden regional edition of the new newspaper Südostschweiz . - For the newspaper of the same name from the 19th century, see Bündner Zeitung (1830–1858) .

history

In a crisis, “Der Freie Rätier” seeks conversation with political competition

The Free Rhaetians claimed since 1968 at the latest cash injections from the ranks of the Democratic Liberal Party Grisons . But these grants were insufficient for urgently needed investments. The predicament prompted the liberals to start talks in 1973 with their former political opponent, the Democratic Party of Graubünden and "Gasser & Eggerling AG" (later Gasser AG ), the publisher of the democratically influenced Neue Bündner Zeitung , which had been incomparably successful in previous years had managed.

Independent «Bündner Zeitung» is drafted

In negotiations that went astonishingly smoothly, the parties agreed to bury the 107-year-old "Free Councilor". At the same time, the "Neue Bündner Zeitung" was renamed "Bündner Zeitung" on January 1, 1975. From now on, this should neither be a democratic nor a free-thinking organ. A new editorial statute allowed the editors to report independently of the party , i.e. also critical of the party . However, a forum page was created in the “Bündner Zeitung”, on which all important parties in Graubünden were allowed to publish articles. The liberals were able to agree to this amicable solution, since thanks to the high circulation of the “Bündner Zeitung” they would reach far more readers than before with the “Free Councilor”. In August 1974, for example, the publishing rights to the “Freie Rätier” went to “Gasser & Eggerling AG”. The purchase price was not communicated. In the following years, the Graubünden Social Democrats also benefited from the party forum of the “Bündner Zeitung” , who previously had no well-known press organ and remained tiny, but now found a certain strength.

Press monopoly feared

In the 1970s, various newspaper mergers in Switzerland gave rise to debates about press concentration . For example, on August 1, 1974, the Neue Bündner Zeitung wrote a long, strangely unsigned, front article to its readers in order to dispel the fears of a Bündner press monopoly. It was pointed out that 19 newspapers were published in Graubünden. The then Swiss price watchdog , former National Councilor Leo Schürmann ( CVP ) was also quoted , who was of the opinion that “a strong and viable regional press should not split up into many titles and small editorial offices. Rather, it requires concentration so that the civic mandate assigned to the regional press can be fulfilled. " Furthermore, the local patriotic instincts were appealed to by invoking the danger that the Grisons press could be ousted from the "Unterland" by media companies or bought up by them. Some non-cantonal titles are already selling more than the “Free Rätier” previously.

"Neue Bündner Zeitung" vs. «Free Rätier»: A long struggle

With the integration of the “Free Councilor”, the “Neue Bündner Zeitung” had won 82 years of competition. The reasons for this are political and journalistic. The "Neue Bündner Zeitung" fought on the side of the opposition democrats since 1919, which gave it a committed profile and brought it to research journalism as early as the 1920s. The “Free Rätier”, on the other hand, closed his eyes to the clamor of the business-oriented liberals, whose mouthpiece he was, and lost himself in soothing celebratory style. The “Free Rätier” was also not able to respond to the growing competition from television in journalistic terms, which the “Neue Bündner Zeitung” succeeded in doing by consistently expanding its regional section, introducing entertainment pages and from the morning up on production technology changed the night printing, which reduced the up-to-dateness of the live reports from radio and television. In particular, the modern printing and editing center of «Gasser AG», which is currently under construction on Kasernenstrasse in Chur, may have moved the circle around the «Free Councilor» to give up.

Democrats and liberals get a seat on the editorial board

The remaining editors of the “Free Councilor”, Daniel Witzig and Carl Bieler, switched to the “Bündner Zeitung” team. The new editorial statute granted the democrats and the free-spirited substantial influence despite all postulated party independence. From then on, the newspaper was headed by a committee of three, each with a representative of the Liberals, Daniel Witzig, the Democrats, Georg Casal, and a non-party, Hanspeter Lebrument , who later became the CEO of the Südostschweiz Mediengruppe . The liberals had even stipulated that they could determine the successor of their representative.

Color printing reaches the Bündner newspaper industry

The “Bündner Zeitung” started on a 48-page rotary printing press that had previously not been seen in Graubünden, and could now also offer color pages. However, this option was only used for the advertisement pages. It was not until the following Southeastern Switzerland in 1997 that Graubünden was able to enjoy a colorful daily newspaper.

Cantonal government vs. «Bündner Zeitung»: Debate on freedom of the press

The change from leisurely party press to sales-oriented research journalism was made visible by an affair between the cantonal government and the “Bündner Zeitung”. The government had issued guidelines in 1976 that enabled it to punish avid researchers with an information boycott. The Swiss media strongly criticized the decree. In Graubünden only the "Bündner Zeitung" protested, while the conservative Bündner Tagblatt welcomed the taming of the research-loving competition. The “Bündner Zeitung” found harsh words: “State control over the press is becoming overpowering in Graubünden. In the future, regional official reporting will be closer to the Eastern Communist conception than to the Western-liberal newspaper conception. "

The cantonal government finds “Bündner Zeitung” sensational

District President Kuoni pleaded freedom of the press before the Grand Council (cantonal parliament), but complained about the "adverse system" according to which the press is increasingly criticizing the authorities. He also accused the "Bündner Zeitung" of some cases in which it had provided improper information in favor of a sensational presentation.

The federal court cannot do anything against government guidelines

The “Bündner Zeitung” and the Swiss Union of Journalists filed a constitutional complaint against the guidelines . However, this was rejected by the Federal Court in Lausanne in 1978 . The judges indicated that they did not like the guidelines in question either, but they were in accordance with the applicable law, as the higher-level laws did not provide for the authorities to be obliged to provide information. The “Bündner Zeitung” considered taking its action to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. This step was then omitted. The government applied the controversial paragraphs cautiously, which eased the relationship between the Bündner Zeitung and the cantonal authorities.

Accelerated expansion of «Gasser AG»

In 1978 "Gasser AG" expanded across the cantonal border and took over the Oberländer Tagblatt in Sargans in the St. Gallen Rhine Valley. The sheet that was bought was published from now on with a cover section from the editorial staff of the “Bündner Zeitung”. From 1975 to 1985 the “Bündner Zeitung” was able to increase its circulation by 40 percent. This allowed «Gasser AG» to take over or found numerous weekly local newspapers. These events are described in the article about Gasser AG . In 1986, “Gasser AG” launched the free newspaper “Monopoly”, which was renamed the Bündner-Woche after six months . At the same time, the competing Bündner Tagblatt experienced its decline and a miraculous rescue by the SVP leader and billionaire Christoph Blocher , before this too went to «Gasser Media AG» in 1996.

Big coup creates national press alliance

In 1997 "Gasser Media AG" took over the Glarner Nachrichten , the Gasterländer and the Seepresse . Shortly afterwards she founded the new newspaper Die Südostschweiz with the daily newspaper publishers of the canton of Schwyz . The “Bündner Zeitung” was converted into the Graubünden regional edition of “Südostschweiz”. This regional edition reached a circulation of 40,008 copies in 2000. The supraregional shell part of "Southeast Switzerland" is produced in Chur. In 1998, media associations and trade unions protested against the concentration of power in the hands of “Südostschweiz” publisher Hanspeter Lebrument by distributing the special edition Die Monopolschweiz to all households in Graubünden. Daniel Foppa states: "Thanks to south- eastern Switzerland, Chur has quickly risen to become the most important media city in eastern Switzerland."

Editor-in-chief and co-editor-in-chief of the "Bündner Zeitung"

Former editors-in-chief, see Neue Bündner Zeitung (1892–1974) .

1974–1976 Georg Casal
1974–1979 Daniel Witzig
1974–1980 Hanspeter Lebrument
1981–1991 Stefan Bühler
1992–1997 Andrea Masüger

To be continued, see Southeastern Switzerland .

Remarks

↑ Since the “Free Rätier” had no essential infrastructure, the purchase price should have been modest. Only the subscriber list will have been significant, although most of the “Rätier” readers had already subscribed to the “Neue Bündner Zeitung” as their first newspaper . After all, the “Bündner Zeitung” gained around 1,000 new subscribers through the merger. Foppa (2002), page 17.
↑ Predominantly weekly local newspapers, which are now (autumn 2007) all owned by the Südostschweiz media group that emerged from “Gasser AG” - with the exception of the Engadiner Post and the free newspaper Bündner Anzeiger .
↑ quoted from "Neue Bündner Zeitung", number 235 from August 1, 1974.
↑ The word "Unterland" is the Graubünden term for the less mountainous parts of Switzerland, especially the Zurich region, which is seen by many Graubünden as a dangerous Moloch.
↑ It was avoided to mention these titles by name. So it is not clear whether these were daily newspapers such as Blick , NZZ or Tages-Anzeiger , weekly newspapers such as Weltwoche or magazines such as Schweizer Illustrierte . It should be noted, however, that all of these titles (t) serve information needs that were never considered by the Bündner press.
↑ Foppa (2002), page 15.
↑ The speech rhetoric of the Graubünden politicians has only recently been surpassed by the lament rhetoric (“poor mountain region”).
^ "Guidelines for the information of the public by the government and administration".
^ "Bündner Zeitung" of July 29, 1976.
↑ quoted from Ménétrey (1980), Appendix 3, page 85 ff.
^ Quoted from the Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz: Bündner Zeitung.
↑ Foppa (2002), page 63.

literature

Daniel Foppa: "The history of the German-language daily press in the Canton of Graubünden". Updated edition from 2002. Published by Südostschweiz Presse AG.
Anne Catherine Ménétrey: «Les relations entre la presse et les pouvoirs publics. Le cas des directives du Canton du Grisons. " In: Expert commission for an overall media concept. Writings 11. Bern 1980.