Wolfgang Vyslozil

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Wolfgang Vyslozil (born November 12, 1945 in Meiningen , Thuringia ) is an Austrian media manager and university lecturer.

Life

Training and first professional positions

Vyslozil grew up in Klosterneuburg . After high school graduation , military service and a few semesters of medicine, he studied journalism in Salzburg, initially with Günter Kieslich and political science, as well as business administration in Linz . He received his doctorate in 1974 with Michael Schmolke in Salzburg. phil. His work dealt with the systems theory approach of the sociologist Niklas Luhmann . In 1971/1972 he was the first press officer at the Austrian Rectors' Conference.

From 1974 to 1976 Vyslozil initially worked as an assistant to the management of the national quality newspaper “ Die Presse ” and then until 1982 as its deputy managing director. Among other things, he was responsible for the technical production of the newspaper and was the first newspaper in Austria to convert the "press", which had been made in lead type, to light typesetting.

In addition, from 1978 to 1984 Vyslozil held a lectureship for publishing marketing and publishing management at the Journalism Institute of the University of Vienna . From 1979 to 1982 he represented the employers 'side as an assessor at the Vienna Labor Court as well as the “press” in the shareholders' meeting of Radio Adria SRL. He was a member of the committee for journalist training and scientific questions of the Austrian newspaper association as well as the advisory board of the board of trustees for journalist training. From 1975 he represented the "press" on the supervisory board of APA-Austria Presse Agentur eG.

Worked for the APA-Austria Presse Agentur eG

In 1982 Vyslozil was appointed managing director and member of the board of the Austria Press Agency (APA). The APA, along with Reuters , Associated Press , the German Press Agency (dpa) and others, is one of the world's small group of state-independent news agencies and is owned by 16 Austrian daily newspapers and the ORF. Under his leadership, the APA developed from a traditional news agency service provider information to a leading. In 1982 the company was the smallest western news agency in Europe with around 130 employees and a turnover of around 7 million euros.

By 2008, under Vyslozil's leadership, sales could be increased more than eightfold to 58 million euros, while the workforce increased to around 400 permanent employees. During this period, the APA, as a news agency in one of the smaller European countries, has become the sixth largest agency within the EU. The basis for the success was the business model developed from the end of the 1980s, which is based on the convergence of real-time information, database information and high technology. Vyslozil implemented this concept a decade before the Internet was introduced at APA. Even a quarter of a century later, it is successfully at the center of the agency's corporate strategy.

Vyslozil advocated the maxim that to ensure editorial independence, the economic independence of APA must be continuously strengthened. To this end, he pursued a sustainable growth and diversification strategy. Within this framework, the APA became active in three other business areas in addition to the traditional agency areas, namely picture agency, information management and information technology. With its ten subsidiaries (in 2008) and a number of foreign holdings, the APA was and is one of the most diversified European news agencies. The acquisition of 60 (2016: 50) percent of the shares in Keystone , the largest Swiss photo agency, operated by Vyslozil and realized in 2007 is of particular importance . The remaining 40 (2016: 50) percent is held by the Swiss Dispatch Agency (SDA).

At his instigation, the new company headquarters were built on the Naschmarkt in Vienna from 2003 to 2005. The heart of the house is a newsroom , which with 1,600 square meters is one of the largest in Europe. It offers space for all journalistic departments from the classic departments to multimedia, image and graphics to video with more than 160 editorial staff. Vyslozil was the managing director of APA for 26 years. He retired at the end of 2008 as the longest-serving head of a news agency in Europe.

Scientific activity

In 1989 Vyslozil initiated the international comparative research program “Economy and the Future of Print Media”. From 1990 to 1993 he was chairman of the scientific advisory board of the project, which was a priority program of the Austrian Ministry of Science with 13 sub-projects.

In 1998 he was the initiator of a two-year project funded by the APA to research the history of Austrian news agencies since the mid-19th century.

From 2009 to 2010 Vyslozil was rector of the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences. With the medium-term strategy “Employability through excellence”, which he initiated and shaped, he contributed to a new strategic direction at the university.

Since 2010 he has been a lecturer for strategic media management and media innovation management at the universities of Vienna and Salzburg.

From 2011 to 2013 Vyslozil researched the roots and history of this world's oldest agency association, founded in 1939, on behalf of the agencies of "Group 39".

Other professional functions

1989 to 1990 and 2006 to 2008 President of the European Alliance of Newsagencies (EANA).

1994 to 1997 chairman of the supervisory board of epa - European Pressphoto Agency bV in Frankfurt am Main.

1996 to 1998 chairman of Group 39 (Alliance of Independent Newsagencies in Central and Northern Europe).

1995 to 2008 chairman of the Expert Committee on Newsagencies of the International Press Institute (IPI).

Publications

  • Vyslozil, Wolfgang, Heinz Pürer and Eckart Klaus Roloff (1973): The structure of the Austrian daily press. St. Pölten: IM - Information & Opinion, 4th year 1973, 1st special issue.
  • Vyslozil, Wolfgang (1996): The Economic Situation of News Agencies in Transition. In: IPI (1996): Central and East European News Agencies in Transition. Vienna / Warsaw: International Press Institute, pp. 125–149.
  • Edith Dörfler and Wolfgang Pensold (2001): The power of the message. The history of news agencies in Austria. Edited by Wolfgang Vyslozil. Vienna: Molden Verlag. ISBN 3-85485-065-4
  • Vyslozil, Wolfgang (2014): Group 39. History of an Exceptional Alliance of News Agencies. Character, Business and Policy of Independent News Agencies in Europe. Vienna: APA-Austria Press Agency. ISBN 978-3-200-03342-9

Awards

In 2007 the industry magazine “Der Österreichische Journalist” named Vyslozil as media manager of the year . This recognized his achievements for the APA, which he had made a "high-performance media company".

In 1996 the Board of the International Press Institute (IPI) named him an “IPI Fellow” for his “outstanding work on Eastern European news agencies in transition”.

In 2005 he received the Grand Decoration of Honor of the Republic of Austria from Federal President Heinz Fischer in recognition of the “impressive development of the APA” under his leadership.

In addition, he was awarded the Bulgarian Madeira Order 1st Class in 2006 and the Knight's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit in 2009 for his long-term support of CEE Agencies in Transition .

literature

  • Peter A. Bruck (Ed.) (1994): Economy and Future of Print Media - New Opportunities for Publishing Management and Media Policy. Vienna: Austrian art and culture publisher.
  • Peter A. Bruck (Hrsg.) (1994): Media Manager State - From the State's Attempts to Enable Media Diversity. Media Policy in International Comparison. Munich: Verlag R. Fischer.
  • Peter A. Bruck (Ed.) (1994): Print under pressure - newspaper publishers on course for innovation. Publishing management in international comparison. Munich: Verlag R. Fischer.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ APA September 9, 1982: Dr. Vyslozil appointed as new APA managing director. APA AHI0195 5 II
  2. ↑ APA June 24, 2008: APA increased sales in 2007 by 10.4 percent. APA0406 5 II 0372 MI / WI
  3. ↑ APA consolidated balance sheet 2015 with sales growth and stable result. In: APA-OTS original text service. June 10, 2016.
  4. ↑ APA November 26, 2007: APA and SDA take over Swiss picture agency Keystone . APA0174 5 WI 0413 AI / MI
  5. ↑ APA October 11, 2005: APA opens Europe's most modern news center. APA0332 5 II 0471 MI
  6. ↑ APA December 5, 2008: Wolfgang Vyslozil - The long-serving European agency boss. APA0142 5 II 0375 MI
  7. ^ APA Sep 14, 1990: Austria's newspaper landscape - economically illuminated. APA0217 5 II
  8. ↑ See Edith Dörfler and Wolfgang Pensold (2001): Die Macht der Nachrichten. The history of news agencies in Austria. Edited by Wolfgang Vyslozil. Vienna: Molden Verlag. P. 20f.
  9. ↑ APA April 1, 2009: St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences elected Wolfgang Vyslozil as the new rector. APA0237 5 II 0316 XI / MI
  10. ↑ See Wolfgang Vyslozil (2014): Group 39. History of an Exceptional Alliance of News Agencies. Character, Business & Policy of Independent News Agencies in Europe. Vienna: APA-Austria Press Agency.
  11. ^ APA September 22, 2006: APA chief new president of the European news agencies. APA0224 5 II 0319 MI
  12. ↑ APA May 27, 1994: Vyslozil new chairman of the European Pressphoto Agency. APA0321 5 WI 0200
  13. ↑ See Vyslozil (2014): Group 39, p. 388.
  14. ↑ APA0237 April 1, 2009 011151 Apr 09
  15. ↑ APA November 9, 2007: APA Managing Director Wolfgang Vyslozil is "Media Manager of the Year". APA0362 5 II 0262 MI
  16. ^ APA Nov 27, 1996: APA managing director Vyslozil received IPI honorary title. APA0376 5 AI 0124 MI
  17. ↑ APA November 8, 2005: Great decoration of the republic to APA managing director Vyslozil. APA0337 5 II 0468 MI
personal data
SURNAME Vyslozil, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian media manager and university lecturer
DATE OF BIRTH November 12, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Meiningen , Thuringia