Tamedia: Setting the course for independent quality journalism

Dear reader

We would like to inform you about important innovations. Tamedia, which also publishes this publication, has developed a new strategy under the leadership of CEO Jessica Peppel-Schulz. In future, the media company will focus on strong digital brands, the existing print portfolio will be continued, and Bern will be the sole location for the printing business in the medium term. The Centre d’Impression de Lausanne in Bussigny VD is expected to close at the end of March 2025, and the Zurich printing center at the end of 2026. The aim is to lead Switzerland’s largest privately financed editorial network into a digital future.

What does this mean for you as a reader? Quality journalism is and remains our core business. It is of central importance for our direct democracy and makes a significant contribution to a free society in our country. By providing you with relevant information from Switzerland, abroad, your region and the surrounding area around the clock and via all channels, we offer orientation and everyday assistance with a lot of practical value.

Quality is our top priority. Comprehensive research, portraits and reports, interactive maps, tickers on relevant events, precise classifications of current political events at all levels and practical service make our offerings unique. We want to continuously expand these. In doing so, we will bring our journalistic strengths together even better and give more thought in the editorial departments to what kind of journalism you actually expect from us. All titles and editorial departments remain committed to journalism with high standards. Credibility, relevance, truthfulness and fairness are the pillars of our publishing.

Four strong digital brands

In order to maintain our performance and quality, we need to make changes in the printing business and in our brand portfolio. For digital growth, Tamedia is relying on the four major brands “Tages-Anzeiger”, “BZ Berner Zeitung”, “Basler Zeitung” and “24 Heures”. This step will enable us to better concentrate our strengths in the country’s major regions. The traditional titles “Bund” and “Tribune de Genève” will retain their own digital presence.

Titles such as the “Landbote”, the “Zürichsee-Zeitung”, the “Zürcher Unterländer”, the “Thuner Tagblatt”, the “Berner Oberländer” and the “BZ Langenthaler Tagblatt” will be integrated digitally into the four major platforms using different concepts, just like other Tamedia brands. We are thus creating a wide range of offerings with high-quality articles from home and abroad, regional news and useful services for all readers. And your printed newspaper? It will stay as it is. Tamedia’s diverse print portfolio will continue to exist.

There are changes in advertising marketing, which Tamedia is once again taking over itself. Subscriptions and advertising marketing are equally important pillars in the new monetization strategy.

Change in the media industry

You may be wondering why this new strategy is needed. The reason is the upheaval in the media industry. Usage has changed rapidly due to smartphones and social media. More and more people are using digital channels, but the willingness to pay for quality journalism is decreasing. Digitalization is also leading to major changes in the advertising market. At the same time, revenues from traditional print advertising are shrinking and newspaper circulation is falling.

These developments are jeopardizing our economic sustainability as a media company, which is an important prerequisite for independent, quality journalism. The new strategy is a big step for all employees. Unfortunately, the plan is linked to personnel measures. In the printing works, these include job cuts of around 200 full-time positions, and in the editorial departments, around 90 positions are expected. This is subject to the results of the consultation process.

The path we have chosen secures the future of our quality journalism and allows us to better deal with the rapidly changing conditions. Our standards remain high: we want to provide you with independent, curious and inspiring journalism every day.

Simon Bärtschi, Head of Publishing Tamedia, Member of the Management Board

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