Archive notice: This article was originally published on July 19, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Around 300 press spokespersons, PR specialists and journalists attended the discussion round held by the dpa subsidiary on the topic “From noble pen to content supplier? – Print media in transition”. Christian Jakubetz of Imfeld Media moderated the event.
Hans-Jürgen Jakobs, Editor-in-Chief of sueddeutsche.de, pointed out that the exchange between print and online editors at Süddeutsche Zeitung has now become part of everyday life: “Online and print can complement each other and be complementary. However, the online edition of a daily newspaper has a different standard of quality, since here, for example, dialogue with readers or interactivity are in the foreground.” He emphasized that at Süddeutsche Zeitung there is a shift of the noble pens toward online: “We have had good experiences presenting our well-known journalists online. This is shown, for example, by the higher access figures for contributions by our leading journalists. The online medium can thus become the leading medium”, Jakobs said.
Petra Gessulat, Editor-in-Chief of COSMOPOLITAN and CELEBRITY, expressed herself somewhat more cautiously about online jounalism. It first had to achieve the qualitative standards of print or TV: “In practice, online has not yet achieved the quality that exists, for example, in print and TV journalism.” Online could, however, also be a good means of reaching other reader groups, for example, and transporting the “attitude to life” of a magazine onto the Internet: “With the online edition of Cosmopolitan, we reach a younger target group than with our print title: While the average age of the print edition is 37, it is 25 for the online version.” At Cosmopolitan, online continued to be separated from the print editorial office. “There will also continue to be separate people for print and separate people for online. At the same time, cooperation between the two sides is increasing”, Gessulat said.
Christoph Hardt, head of the Munich office of Handelsblatt, also believed that print titles could reach new target groups with online editions: “The online offering is a vehicle for finding new and, in some cases, completely different users than those reached as a print brand. For all of us, online is gradually – albeit slowly – becoming part of our everyday lives.” He predicted a convergence of print and online: “Journalists must prepare themselves to work for print and online at the same time.” At Handelsblatt, a personnel shift from print to online was already taking place, Hardt said. Print, however, continued to remain at the center of public perception. “I believe the perception of Handelsblatt will remain fixed on the print product for years to come”.
Julian Spies, Editorial Director of Merkur Online and tz Online, explained that in his publishing house the exchange between print and online editorial offices was the order of the day. “As an online editorial office, under the motto ,Online First’ we receive current reports from our print colleagues. With us, the print editorial office works specifically for the online editorial office. Nevertheless, separate texts are written for the online edition.” He made clear that developments toward online also lead to new professional requirements in journalism: “We must be clear that editors work cross-media and also shoot a video now and then”, Spies said.
For Jürgen Marks, Deputy Editor-in-Chief at Augsburger Allgemeine, online and print have long belonged together – cross-media networking plays a very special role in this. “In many editorial offices, we are already much more cross-media than one thinks.” Online also offers newspapers the opportunity to win back lost reach and target groups. “Since newspaper circulation is stagnating, we must conquer the large reach cross-media.” The web also offers the opportunity, for example through exchange in communities, to bind young target groups in particular to print brands, Marks said. He was convinced that online would not displace the newspaper. “For more than ten years it has been claimed that the newspaper is dead. In the future, both media will continue to exist side by side and complement each other.”
