Pusula: On course with the compass

WW: How did the idea of Pusula come about?
Turgut Karaboyun: The original idea of a newspaper for the Turkish population of Switzerland was mine. Since 2007, we have been publishing a monthly edition of 20,000 copies, which are sent free of charge to our subscribers.  
 
When using your program "Our primary goal is to promote integration and to bring people closer to their home country, Switzerland. We want to inform the Turkish population (...) about topics such as law and order, health, education and Swiss history as well as civics and politics." it sounds very "official. Do you think that the need is there among the readership for such information?
TK: I am 100% sure about that. The foreign population in Switzerland does not know the current topics and discussions, which concerns law and politics in Switzerland so well. They usually don't know enough German to read a Swiss newspaper. Take my compatriots, the Turks, for example. I have been living in Switzerland for 15 years. In the first 3 years, I noticed that my compatriots almost don't know Switzerland. If there are questions about current problems, a Turkish man asks his colleague. What he says is then correct. That's how it always works. That's why I thought it wouldn't be bad to have a newspaper in Turkish to inform people about Swiss issues. We then worked very quickly with experts and specialized journalists. We wanted to bring Switzerland closer to the Turkish population living here. The information we provide them is very important for them.
 
Who is the typical reader of Pusula?
TK: 85% of our readers are between 14 and 39 years old. 39% are in the 14 to 29 age bracket. Readers between 14 and 29 tend to have a greater interest in German-language news, or they even read Swiss newspapers. Simply because they have a better command of the German language than their parents. In the future, we would therefore like to have a greater proportion of German articles in the newspaper. At the moment, we only have very short summaries, which originally had a different purpose.
 
Which one?
TK: Initially, we were always asked the same questions: Who is behind the newspaper? Is it a mosque or even a political organization? When we contacted Swiss advertising agencies or clients, they always said, "The newspaper looks good, but who is in the background? "People always thought Pusula was a political newspaper because they couldn't read the content. I then worked with the editorial team to find a solution. That's how these short summaries in German came about. Since then, these questions no longer arise. The customers have noticed that we are neither politically nor religiously biased, we are neutral. That is very important for us. In Turkish society, there are very different religious or political attitudes. So for us it was always clear that we have to stay in the middle in terms of our attitude. As a kind of side effect, we then noticed that the young Turks read and appreciate these German summaries.
 
How did you want to develop Pusula?
Over time, I realized that we as Pusula are very small for the Swiss market. I thought that if we could make a newspaper for different foreign groups in Switzerland, we would cover the Swiss market better and would have more impact. For the last three years, I have wanted to realize this. Starting this year, we have a new investor. Now we can do this. In two months we will start.
 
You now have a new owner?
TK: Until 2013, I was managing director in my own company. At the beginning of the year, Santander Estate AG took a stake in our company as an investor. I am now editor-in-chief at this company and CEO of the media division.
 
Santander Estate AG is a company with interests in sports licenses in football, isn't it?
TK: Yes, that is correct. Santander Estate AG is an investment company. They thought it was a great idea to make a four-language weekly newspaper for ethnic groups. They thought they could realize this project.
Mine Bardakci: ... and are thus now also investing in the media sector.
 
Who owns Santander Estate AG?
TK: Santander Estate AG is an investment company and consists of several shareholders. The management consists of Murad Emmioglu and Bahadir Candan.
 
So from September, everything will be different. What does that mean for the concept?
TK: The magazine is now published weekly in tabloid format in four different languages: Turkish, Albanian, Serbian and Portuguese. The total circulation is 100,000 copies, 25,000 per language.
 
How is the newspaper distributed?
TK: The magazine will continue to be free and personally addressed by mail.
 
Where did you get the addresses?
TK: We buy addresses and we have very good contacts with associations and various foundations that provide us with their addresses.
 
What will be the name of the newspaper?
TK: Pusula means compass in German. Originally, we wanted to use the name for all issues. But we abandoned that and decided to translate the name: Kompas for the Serbian edition, Busull for the Albanian and Bussola for the Portuguese.
 
Will the themes of each issue be different?
TK: We want to run 32 pages every week. The first 20 pages will be done by our central technical editorial office. We would like to translate these news items into the other languages. There it is about Switzerland, there the topics are the same for all foreigner groups. The remaining twelve pages will be made by the journalists of the individual language editions and adapted in the topics to the respective nationality.
 
In the current Turkish edition, the topics are fully related to Switzerland. Is it possible to make a newspaper for a group of foreigners in Switzerland and, to a certain extent, hide the home country?
TK: At the moment, we have focused on Switzerland in terms of integration. That was the first priority for us. If we're successful with that, we'll see how we can broaden our project. One possibility is the selection of news. Information from the homeland should then also take place. But there is something to consider. For each of these groups of foreigners there are already different newspapers and magazines. Whether they are really a competition for us, I don't know yet. Certainly not in the area of Swiss news, but certainly in the news from the home country.
 
The newspaper will be published in four languages. Where will be translated?
TK: Portuguese translation happens in Portugal and Brazil, Albanian and Serbian happen in Turkey.
 
Is there a responsible editor for each language?
TK: At the moment we have contacts with various journalists. By August, we must have decided who will be the editor responsible for which language.
 
There are probably different information needs depending on the foreigner group. Will the four issues perhaps also differ more in the "Swiss section" in the future?
MB: We are now starting with translations of a common part. We are very open to feedback from our readers and also from the responsible editors. If there is a need, for example, that the Portuguese part of the readership is interested in other news about life in Switzerland, we will be able to report on these current things with freelance journalists. It's clear we have to adapt to the needs of each ethnic group. Over time, this will settle in.
TK: The first six months are very important for us. We are excited, but also dependent on the feedback from our readership.
 
 
Is there cooperation with the various federal or municipal integration offices?
TK: In the future, we definitely need to work with the integration offices, because we want to give our readers the best information and news about Switzerland.
 
Was this not done until today?
TK: Today, for the monthly Turkish-language newspaper, we have worked together with the Integration Promotion Zurich. For the planned weekly four-language newspaper, the needs are quite different. The cooperation should be with the Federal Office for Migration. We have to get in touch with them. But so far, that has not happened yet.
 
Where is the newspaper printed?
TK: We have been working successfully with Ringier in Adligenswil for three years. That will continue.
 
When do you start?
TK: We will be in the mailbox on September 2.
 
How many people will be working here?
TK: We have rented these offices brand new. There is enough space. The plan is to have 25-30 permanent employees.
 
The target groups you want to address are interesting for advertising. What are the reactions from the advertising market?
TK: At the moment we have a lot of contacts with Swiss customers and advertising and media agencies. It's going very well and we're getting a lot of very positive feedback for our project.
 
What's next? How important is the online sector?
MB: Our new website is in the development phase.
TK: Until three months ago we had a real news portal, in the current rebuild phase we only offer the newspaper as an e-paper. In the future, it will again be a usual news site of a newspaper.
MB: There will be a site with news and editorial content in different languages, as well as different advertising options. Once the site is up and running, we will also be active on social media, i.e. Facebook and Twitter. For a younger target group, that's simply part of it.
 
What else is planned for the future?
TK: If we're successful with the newspaper, then we'll launch television and radio with the same concept. I'm originally a radio journalist. So I'm very interested in expanding the concept. In the beginning, we will be receivable via the Internet. If we're successful, we might get a radio frequency one day (laughs). But there are also plans for more print editions in other languages. We are thinking of Tamil, possibly also English and Italian. So we still have a lot of plans.
 
Are you planning an introductory promotion?
TK: The current plan is for billboard advertising. Perhaps radio advertising at a later stage.
 
Interview & Photo: Pierre C. Meier

The covers of the four editions: Turkish, Albanian, Portuguese and Albanian.

An article from the current Print edition the advertising week.