Basler newspaper

Basler newspaper
description	Swiss daily newspaper
publishing company	Tamedia
First edition	January 1977
Frequency of publication	Monday-Saturday
Sold edition	38,798 (previous year 41,213) copies
( WEMF circulation bulletin 2019)
Widespread edition	40,422 (previous year 43,688) copies
(WEMF circulation bulletin 2019)
Range	0.101 (previous year 0.099) million readers
(WEMF Total Audience 2018-2)
Editor-in-chief	Marcel Rohr
Editor	Tamedia Basler Zeitung AG
Web link	bazonline.ch

The Basler Zeitung ( BaZ for short ) is the largest newspaper in the Basel area ( Switzerland ). It emerged in January 1977 from the merger of the left-liberal National-Zeitung with the bourgeois-conservative Basler Nachrichten and is published by the Basler Zeitung Medien . Before the role of Christoph Blocher as co-owner became known at the end of 2010, BaZ had a circulation of over 83,000 copies. Since then it has almost halved to 46,000.

In 2018 the newspaper was taken over by the Tamedia group from Zurich.

General

The weekday edition of the Basler Zeitung appears in two bundles , which are cut in the traditional Swiss newspaper format of 320 × 475 mm: The first bundle is dedicated to political events at home and abroad. There are also topics from the economy, culture and the opinion page with letters to the editor. The second part covers the regional news from the municipalities of Basel , Riehen and Bettingen , followed by reports from the Baselland and Fricktal , and very rarely also from the Sundgau and Markgräflerland . In addition, the sporting events are embedded here. Subscribers (not kiosk buyers) also receive the Zürcher Tages-Anzeiger magazine as a supplement on Saturdays . On Friday there will be a “large edition” that will be distributed free of charge in the canton of Baselland, where the Basler Zeitung competes with the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung .

On January 8, 2012, the first edition of the Basler Zeitung appeared on Sunday ( BaZ am Sonntag for short ). It was kept in the same format and layout as the weekday edition, but did not have four frets, but two extensive ones. Several editorial offices were created for this. On February 24, 2013, the latest edition of the Sunday edition appeared, since the subscribers get the Sunday paper of Tamedia . In 2014, the Basler Zeitung launched the twice-weekly BaZ Kompakt as an alternative to the daily newspaper . Every Tuesday and Thursday, BaZ Kompakt provides information in tabloid format about important background topics . However, after only 14 months, BaZ Kompakt's kiosk sales were stopped again; the newspaper has since been available by subscription or at the BaZ counter.

Previous newspapers

National newspaper

Front page of the National newspaper from 1946

Main edition

The first edition of the Schweizerische National-Zeitung appeared in Basel in 1842 out of opposition to the Ancien Régime . From 1877 the newspaper was only called National-Zeitung (NZ) . In 1945 she took over the majority of the free newspaper Baslerstab .

For a long time, the NZ, like the Basler Nachrichten, was a bourgeois newspaper, until it broke with the radicals (today's FDP, the Liberals ) in the early 1960s and a socially critical left-liberal trend made itself felt in the newspaper. This was particularly evident in the coverage of the Zurich Globus Riots : In contrast to almost all other Swiss daily newspapers, the NZ tried to present a balanced presentation of the youth riots, criticized the police's stunts ordered by the Zurich authorities and campaigned for understanding rebellious youth. The events of 1968 shaped not only the view of the articles in the NZ , but also the political consciousness of some editors. The democratization discussed at that time resulted in a restructuring of the editorial team: On May 1, 1970 , the National-Zeitung was the first newspaper in Switzerland to receive an editorial statute that guaranteed the editorial staff a say, for example in the appointment, reshuffle and dismissal of an editor and in publishing decisions of a journalistic and technical nature. “We don't have an editor-in-chief, and we don't need one,” was the motto. But the democratic structure became increasingly authoritarian.

The business of the newspaper was unpleasant: in 1974 it suffered a major decline in advertising sales. Compared to the time before the acute oil crisis at the time , it sold thirty percent fewer advertisements. The then publisher Hans-Rudolf Hagemann stated: "The advertisement is the most profitable item that we sell", and in June 1975 he announced appropriate savings measures. Among other things, the following measures were carried out:

• The selling price of a newspaper was increased from 70 to 80 cents.
• From then on , the National-Zeitung worked together with the Basler Nachrichten for porter service, vehicle fleet, forwarding and the production of the stock exchange page .
• The newspaper was shortened by another page.
• The fee budget was reduced by ten percent.
• Three editors were fired and three picture editors were demoted to secretaries. More layoffs followed.

The National Newspaper I won not stand alone; In the first major press merger in Switzerland, in 1977 it merged with Basler Nachrichten to form BaZ .

Supplement "Dr glai Nazi"

"Dr glai Nazi" with the subtitle "D'Kinderbylag vo dr Nazi-Zyttig" was a supplement in the National newspaper for children on Wednesdays. It appeared for the first time in 1926 under the title “Der kleine Nazi - Kinderbeilage der National-Zeitung, Basel” . From number 44 of 1950 (November 1, 1950) to the last number in 1977, the supplement was called Dr Glai Nazi.

The name comes from the fact that the National-Zeitung in Basel was called “Nazi-Zyttig” (spoken with a short A) when it was used orally. The name has nothing to do with Nazi in the sense of National Socialist.

Basel News

The Basler Nachrichten (BN) was founded in 1844 as the successor to the Avis-Blatt , founded in 1729, under the title General Intelligence Gazette of the City of Basel and was a liberal-conservative daily newspaper. In 1856 they changed their name to Basler Nachrichten from Switzerland and for Switzerland and a year later to Basler Nachrichten . From 1873 to 1902 the sheet was in radical hands; the conservative forces of Basel founded the Allgemeine Schweizer Zeitung in its place until they were able to take over the Basler Nachrichten again. It was close to the banks: the private banker Alfred E. Sarasin chaired the board of directors for a long time . At the same time he was also President of the Swiss Bankers Association .

Between 1912 and 1924 and between 1944 and 1972 the Basler Nachrichten appeared twice a day, in a morning and an evening edition. As a rule, the former was a news paper, the latter a comment and opinion paper, although the orientation of the newspaper was mostly similar to that of the Liberal Party . The paper established itself as one of the leading daily newspapers in German-speaking Switzerland. In 1976 the Basler Nachrichten had a circulation of 34,000 copies.

The Basler Nachrichten fought like National-Zeitung with financial problems. The BN were considered the newspaper of the Basler Daig and were supported by the economy with seven-figure amounts every year. The BN wrote for a minority that was perceived as elitist and lost importance due to the strong growth of the city of Basel: Most of the new residents did not identify with the BN's specifically Basel way of thinking .

The first major newspaper merger in Switzerland

On November 16, 1976, the public learned of the first major newspaper merger in Switzerland: The National-Zeitung and Basler Nachrichten were merged on January 31, 1977 to form the Basler Zeitung . The merger is generally referred to as a " merger ", but from an economic point of view it is a sale: National-Zeitung AG took over the assets and liabilities of Baslerberichtshaus AG (the publishing house of Basler Nachrichten ), which was then liquidated. The previously competing publishers justified the merger as follows:

«This forward-looking decision, which came about after thorough negotiations and in mutual agreement, is based on the realization that only a united effort can solve the increasingly difficult economic and technical problems of the press and at the same time offer the reader a daily newspaper that meets his high standards from today is enough. "

- quoted from Max Jäggi: This is how the «National-Zeitung» broke.

Nothing of the “in-depth negotiations” leaked to the public: Although various events in the past (for example the joint stock exchange site from 1975) were retrospectively viewed as indications of a merger, the publishers denied such plans to the end. Even some NZ employees only found out about the upcoming merger from the newspaper. The BN employees were informed in a meeting called at short notice. The merger has been denounced as an impoverishment of opinion culture. Supporters of the BN saw it as a betrayal of liberalism , while sympathizers of the NZ accused Basel business circles of having easily got rid of a critical, uncomfortable newspaper. The two newspapers had also defined themselves through their opposites. From now on, the new editorial team, made up of members of both media houses, had to write together in a so-called forum newspaper for a broader readership.

For the editors of the NZ , the right of co-determination, which the editors of the BN was not aware of, greatly decreased with the merger . The merger violated the editorial statutes of both newspapers. The publishing house and the board of directors, which were dominated by representatives from the chemical industry and the banking sector, gave each other more power. In addition to the loss of more than a hundred jobs, the trade unions stated: "Once again it is clear that freedom of the press in the 'free' market is mere freedom of the publisher." With the fight against the restructuring of the NZ editorial team and the protest against the merger, journalists in Switzerland organized themselves for the first time on a larger scale in a union, the Swiss Union of Journalists (SJU). The technical staff was also involved.

Reorientation 2010/2011

Street café in Basel (2011)

On February 8, 2010, the Hagemann publishing family and Publigroupe announced the sale of their shares in Basler Zeitung Medien to the investors Tito Tettamanti and Martin Wagner. At the end of September 2010, the media group's holding company relocated its headquarters from Basel to Zug , where it was renamed “Watt Capital Holding AG”. This is domiciled in the office of the Zug lawyer Ernst Brandenberg, whose son Manuel Brandenberg, who works there, is a leading Zug SVP politician and a member of the board of directors of the SVP and AUNS- related newspaper Schweizerzeit .

On November 14, 2010 it became known that the owners of the Basler Zeitung media group had given the management consulting and financing company “Robinvest AG”, whose board of directors consists of Christoph Blocher and his daughter Rahel Blocher , a consulting mandate. With “Robinvest AG”, Blocher provides purely industrial advice and does not influence newspaper content. After Blocher's advisory mandate became known, there were 1,600 subscription cancellations. The editors also revolted. There were protests.

On November 24, 2010 it was announced that the owners Tettamanti / Wagner had sold the “Basler Zeitung Medien” immediately and 100 percent to the Basel entrepreneur and Crossair founder Moritz Suter . Suter became President of the Board of Directors. As a result, he ended Christoph Blocher's advisory mandate. The headquarters of the holding company were relocated from Zug to Basel. Markus Somm was confirmed as editor-in-chief.

Moritz Suter announced in an interview in the NZZ on Sunday that he had only spent around one million francs on buying the holding company. The investors who now owned the Basler Nachrichten und National Zeitung AG (Basler Zeitung Medien), which had significantly more intrinsic value, remained unknown. Markus Somm hired new editors, according to Eugen Sorg from the weekly magazine Die Weltwoche . On February 21, 2011, the Basler Zeitung announced the dismissal of six journalists , most of whom were progressive-critical.

The complaints of the Association for Critical Media Use (February 2011), the initiative “Rettet Basel!” (March 2011) and a journalist for the Basler Zeitung (May 2011) at the Swiss Press Council regarding the opaque financing of the paper were approved on July 13, 2011: Moritz Suter's economic control of the newspaper was officially questioned by the Swiss Press Council and a corresponding disclosure required.

On April 14, 2011, the “Foundation for Media Diversity” was set up in response to the events at the Basler Zeitung . Your goal is to create a product competing with the Basler Zeitung . The new newspaper, called TagesWoche , appeared for the first time on October 28, 2011.

On December 12, 2011 Moritz Suter ceded his shares to Rahel Blocher, thereby ending his attempt to reorganize the Basler Zeitung . He resigned as Chairman of the Board of Directors and as a publisher. The media saw the sale to Christoph Blocher's daughter Rahel as proof that the Basler Zeitung had been controlled by Christoph Blocher for a long time, despite his denials in the past.

As early as December 14, 2011, however , the Basler Zeitung was taken over by the newly founded "MedienVielfalt Holding" based in the canton of Zug . Ticino financier Tito Tettamanti once again became the majority shareholder. The new president of the Basler Zeitung was the National Councilor Filippo Leutenegger (FDP The Liberals). The commitment of Rahel and Christoph Blocher changed into a deficit guarantee provided by Christoph Blocher in relation to the industrial areas of the Basel media group.

BaZ -critical media and the BaZ -critical campaign “Rettet Basel!” However, continued to assume a strong influence from Blocher and SVP confidants.

The "media diversity Holding" is not to be confused with the "Foundation for Media Diversity", Law Foundation of the BaZ competing day week . According to Tito Tettamanti, the choice of the name is a pure coincidence .

Restructuring and reorientation in 2014

Since the end of June 2014, the Basler Zeitung has belonged to Markus Somm , Christoph Blocher and Rolf Bollmann . They took over the shares from "MedienVielfalt Holding". The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Since then, the media company's field of activity has focused solely on the publication of Basler Zeitung and BaZ Kompakt . All previous activities have been sold or discontinued. The editorial team and publishing house were also restructured and streamlined.

Takeover by Tamedia in 2018

On March 10, 2018 it was announced that the Basler Zeitung would be sold to the Tamedia group from Zurich. Tamedia confirmed this on April 18, 2018. In return, the 65% stake of Tamedia in the Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich as well as the free newspapers Furttaler and Rümlanger (previously 100% Tamedia) as well as in French-speaking Switzerland the stakes in Genève Home Information (GHI) and Lausanne Cités (previously 50% each ) Tamedia) was sold to the previous owner of Basler Zeitung , Zeitungshaus AG owned by Christoph Blocher . The editor-in-chief of the Basler Zeitung , Markus Somm, will continue to run the newspaper as editor-in-chief for six months after the takeover by Tamedia. He will then work as an author for Tamedia after a sabbatical .

On October 11, 2018, the competition commission approved the takeover. On October 29, 2018, Tamedia announced the completion of the transaction. The Basler Zeitung will take over the cover for supraregional topics from Tamedia and report with an independent editorial team from Basel on all local, regional and cantonal events including economy, culture and sport. The renovation should be completed by summer 2019. The previous sports director of the Basler Zeitung , Marcel Rohr, was appointed as the new editor-in-chief and successor to Markus Somm from January 2019 . He announced that he wanted to “depoliticize a bit” the BaZ.

Editors-in-chief

• 1977–1978 Alfred Peter (editor-in-chief; previously chairman of the editorial board of the National-Zeitung ) and Oskar Reck (editor-in-chief for federal politics; previously editor-in-chief of Basler Nachrichten )
• 1978-1983 Gerd H. Padel
• 1983–2003 Hans-Peter Platz
• 2004–2006 Ivo Bachmann
• 2007–2010 Matthias Geering
• 2010–2018 Markus Somm
• since 2019 Marcel Rohr

Well-known editors

• Bea Wyler
• -minu

literature

• Christian Mensch : Expropriated newspaper? The history of the «Basler Zeitung» - a lesson on media change. Schwabe, Basel 2012, ISBN 978-3-7965-2840-8 . With an afterword by Kurt Imhof . (Excerpt.) ( Memento from June 3, 2012 on WebCite )
• Walter Rüegg (Ed.): Challenged. The history of the Basler Zeitung. Christoph Merian Verlag, Basel 2012, ISBN 978-3-85616-562-8 .

Web links

Commons : Basler Zeitung  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of the Basler Zeitung
• Ernst Bollinger: Basler Zeitung (BaZ). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Ruedi Brassel-Moser : National newspaper. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Ernst Bollinger: Basler Nachrichten. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Info portal of a research project on the history of the Basler Zeitung
• Multimedia timeline on the history of the National-Zeitung

Individual evidence

1. ↑ WEMF circulation bulletin 2019 , p. 7 (PDF; 593 kB).
2. ↑ WEMF Total Audience 2018-2 ( Memento from October 15, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), p. 10 (PDF; 609 kB).
3. ^ "Basler Zeitung" now only in two volumes. In: OnlineReports . Retrieved September 12, 2016.
4. ↑ Basler Zeitung publishes Sunday edition. In: NZZ . December 15, 2012.
5. ↑ BaZ compact. In: Website of the Basler Zeitung Medien . Retrieved September 12, 2016.
6. ↑ Martin Sutter: “Basler Zeitung” puts “BaZ Kompakt” on the kiosk. In: OnlineReports. 19th May 2015.
7. ^ The little Nazi, children's supplement to the National-Zeitung. 1926-1950. Swissbib library network .
8. ↑ Dr Glai Nazi d'Kinderbylag vo dr Nazi Zyttig. 1950-1977. Swissbib library network.
9. ↑ So the «National-Zeitung» broke. Freedom of the press as freedom of publishers (= Mediaprint series, vol. 3). Swiss Union of Journalists (SJU), Basel 1978, p. 48.
10. ^ Gabler Lexikon Medienwirtschaft: Lemma forum newspaper. Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden 2011, p. 223 f.
11. ↑ Max Jäggi: This is how the «National-Zeitung» broke. Freedom of the press as freedom of publishers (= Mediaprint series, vol. 3). Swiss Union of Journalists (SJU), Basel 1978, p. 50.
12. ^ "Basler Zeitung" is sold to private investors. In: relevant.at. February 8, 2010.
13. ↑ Peter Knechtli: BaZ Holding moves its headquarters to Zug and changes its name. In: OnlineReports . 17th October 2010.
14. ↑ Lukas Häuptli: Blocher determines the course of the «Basler Zeitung». In: NZZ am Sonntag . November 14, 2010.
15. ↑ Jan Knüsel: Baz publisher Wagner stands behind Somm. In: Tages-Anzeiger . November 16, 2010.
16. ↑ Constantin Seibt: A preacher, forsaken by God. In: Tages-Anzeiger. November 26, 2010.
17. ^ Moritz Suter takes over the «Basler Zeitung». In: Basler Zeitung. November 24, 2010. With an interview by Joël Gernet with Moritz Suter (video).
18. ^ Matthias Chapman: Suter buys «Basler Zeitung» and ends Blocher's mandate. In: Tages-Anzeiger. November 24, 2010.
19. ↑ Francesco Benini: A bargain for Moritz Suter. He only paid a million francs for the “Basler Zeitung” - now the lenders are exerting pressure. In: NZZ am Sonntag. February 6, 2011.
20. ^ Peter Knechtli: Another eight layoffs at the BaZ editorial staff. In: OnlineReports. February 21, 2011.
21. ↑ Peter Knechtli: Press Council: BaZ must disclose actual donors. In: OnlineReports. September 6, 2011.
22. ↑ Disclosure of ownership (Arbus Switzerland / “Rettet Basel” / Syndicom / Eugster c. “Basler Zeitung Medien”). In: Statement by the Swiss Press Council of July 13, 2011.
23. ↑ New Swiss Hybrid Newspaper: Paper only on Fridays. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . August 16, 2011.
24. ↑ Moritz Suter sells “Basler Zeitung” shares to Blocher subsidiary. In: Basellandschaftliche Zeitung . December 12, 2011.
25. ↑ Remo Leupin: Comment: Fooled. In: TagesWoche . December 12, 2011.
26. ↑ Maurice Thiriet: Rahel Blocher takes over the BaZ shares. In: Tages-Anzeiger. December 13, 2011.
27. ↑ Daniel Gerny: Suter gets out, Rahel Blocher takes over. In: NZZ Online . December 12, 2011.
28. ↑ Tettamanti buys “Basler Zeitung” - Blocher covers any losses incurred by the printing works. In: Basler Zeitung. December 14, 2011.
29. ^ Rainer Stadler : Tettamanti financed - Leutenegger renovated. In: NZZ Online. December 14, 2011.
30. ↑ Matieu Klee, Renato Beck: Tettamanti brings Gysin and Peter Wyss for BaZ. In: TagesWoche. December 14, 2011.
31. ↑ Basler Zeitung has new owners. In: Website of the Basler Zeitung Medien. June 30, 2014 (press release).
32. ↑ Basler Zeitung successfully completes restructuring. In: Website of the Basler Zeitung Medien. April 11, 2014 (press release).
33. ^ Dennis Bühler: The Basler Zeitung before the sale: Tamedia reaches for Blocher's newspaper. In: Switzerland at the weekend . March 13, 2018.
34. ↑ Tamedia takes over Basler Zeitung and sells several shares in Anzeiger to Zeitungshaus AG. Tamedia, April 18, 2018 (press release).
35. ↑ WEKO approves takeover of Basler Zeitung by Tamedia. Competition Commission , October 11, 2018 (press release; PDF; 118 kB).
36. ↑ Basler Zeitung is included in the Tamedia newspaper network. Tamedia, October 29, 2018 (press release).
37. ↑ Marcel Rohr becomes the new editor-in-chief of the Basler Zeitung. Tamedia, October 31, 2018 (press release).
38. ↑ Marcel Rohr becomes the new editor-in-chief of the Basler Zeitung. In: Basler Zeitung Online. October 31, 2018.
39. ↑ Challenged. The history of the Basler Zeitung. In: Edito. March 7, 2013.
40. ^ Rainer Stadler: History of the «Basler Zeitung» - With Heavy Metal into the Abyss. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . October 29, 2012.
41. ↑ Lüönd : The BaZ - loved and hated. In: Basler Zeitung. November 1, 2012.