Publisher of the newspaper La Liberté gives itself new structures
The Fribourg-based Saint-Paul media group, publisher of the daily La Liberté, is merging its titles into a single stock corporation. The merger to form Saint-Paul Médias SA takes effect on July 1. The digital presence is to gain in importance.
In addition to La Liberté the newspapers La Gruyère, La Broye Hebdo and Le Messageras the company announced on Thursday. Merged are three companies that until now published the various titles.
In addition to the newspapers, the new corporate unit will reportedly also include the marketing and communications departments, which serve the advertising and reader markets. In total, 190 employees are involved.
The aim is to exploit synergies and promote cooperation between the newspapers, according to the communiqué. All newspapers would retain their editorial independence, their own editors-in-chief and their own premises.
Declining advertising revenues
Joining forces will allow the development of joint projects, the company said. The company will invest 1.6 million Swiss francs in a new production system. This should make it possible to publish content consistently on digital channels first in the future.
From the beginning of next year, the four newspapers will also have new websites and new apps. From July 1, they will have a joint online editorial team. It will consist of 11 employees sharing 8.4 full-time positions.
The background to the reorganization is the impact of digitization on the media. One would have to develop - initially without additional revenues - very expensive new tools and work processes, quoted La Liberté the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the media group, Martial Pasquier.
Advertising revenues fell from 16.1 million francs in 2019 to 13.9 million francs last year, according to the article. The innovations should make it possible to tap into new revenues from advertising and subscription sales. (SDA)
