On Monday morning, Martin Balle is very proud of his weekend coup. “That was a lightning start,” says the newspaper publisher. “Since Saturday we have been doing the for Regensburg and the district Regensburg newspaper. The start was a great success. “His euphoria faltered briefly when he noticed that the person he was speaking to on the phone seemed at a loss. A new newspaper – please?” You didn’t notice? “, He asks with a trace of bewilderment the voice: “The people tore the newspaper out of our hands on Saturday!”
Actually, they wanted to talk to Balle about a completely different topic, namely the recently announced takeover of Central Bavarian Newspaper (MZ) by the publishing group Passau (Passauer Neue Presse). As head of the Attenkofer media group, who worked with the Straubinger Tagblatt and the Landshut Newspaper is in regional competition with the new major publisher, he is critical of the merger. But now the publisher first wants to talk about the new product from his own company.
“It was always clear to us that we would publish our own newspaper in Regensburg as soon as the Central Bavarian is sold, “he says. That was only a matter of time within the industry. The fact that the number 1 of the Regensburger Zeitung was at the kiosk on Saturday just a week after the merger announcement from Passau is remarkable for the otherwise rather hesitant newspaper industry. A new one Daily newspaper, even if it is only a local edition, is not just being pounded out of the ground.
The Straubing publisher Martin Balle wants to compete with the Central Bavarian in Regensburg.
(Photo: Sven Hoppe / dpa)
However, Balle benefits from the fact that his publisher has been running a small editorial office on Regensburger Haidplatz for a long time and reporting on local topics – so far without its own local title. Balle says that they have come to terms with the MZ publishing family, but with the advent of the Passau competition it is about “maintaining the balance of media forces in Eastern Bavaria”. The city editorial department, which initially looks after the small local edition with a circulation between 1200 and 1500 copies, consists of five permanent and two freelance colleagues, says Balle. The goal is to build more jobs. “We want to be a modern city newspaper.” This claim should already be shown on the front page.
In contrast to the Straubinger Tagblatt, for example, which supplies the cover section with political, economic and sports reports, the new paper does not have a heavy Gothic font in the title, but a narrower typography with red accents. Sales should also work lean: Instead of a subscription model, which is expensive to set up, Balle relies on street sales at 170 sales outlets. The first edition on Saturday lured with the following local story: “But only chocolate? The dispute over dog poop continues to smolder.”