Press adapts to changing times in democratic Germany

Text and photos by Endy M. Bayuni

A group of journalists from Asia and the Middle East were recently invited to visit Germany by the federal government to compare notes with their German counterparts on where the press -- a vital institution in the development of a democratic Germany -- is heading amid changing times. The following two articles are based on that visit.

AUGSBURG, Germany (JP): Augsburger Allgemeine has just spent 32 million deutschemark (US$19 million) on a state of the art printing machine for its plant here.

The plant is one of two managed by the newspaper to distribute some 370,000 copies daily -- with 25 different editions for as many towns around the Bavarian town -- to its loyal readers.

The paper's political editor, Uwe Wilke, said: "We sell a few copies in the streets and they are mostly outside Augsburg. Up to 95 percent of our copies go to subscribers."

It is hard to envisage that a small town in the heart of Bayer can boast such a large circulation. Augsburger is a regional paper but it is Germany's sixth largest.

Augsburger is one of the few exceptions to the rule in Germany, where newspaper readership is generally on the decline. But the paper's growth has settled at a mere 1 percent a year.

German press executives and government officials are worried about the declining interest in reading newspapers, particularly among young Germans.

While publishers are uneasy about the impact on their businesses, federal government officials are concerned about the political impact of the trend.

The German constitution, the Basic Law, recognizes the role that the press plays in building and upholding democracy. It is widely recognized that the press has had a major role in the rebuilding of Germany's political system after World War II.

And the newspaper business -- which currently boasts more than 400 titles -- flourished as it played out its constitutional role.

According to the Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers, total newspaper circulation in 1996 was 32.5 million, down from 33.2 million in 1993.

This still adds up to 314 copies for every 1,000 inhabitants.

The 360 local and regional newspapers account for the bulk of the sales (17.9 million copies), followed by eight tabloids (6.1 million) and seven national newspapers (1.4 million). In addition there are the 28 weeklies (2.2 million copies) and eight Sundays (4.8 million).

Magazines too have flourished thanks to the strong reading habits of Germans. There are more than 10,000 magazine titles to cater to everybody's tastes, interests and hobbies. There are four or five titles alone on fishing, for example. And there are even magazines on horsebreeding and magazines for clergymen.

Germany, in short, is a haven for the avid reader, if one understands the language, and Hamburg and Munich are now ranked among the world's largest press towns. Both towns are home to many of the publishing houses that put out the nation's magazines.

Germany's strong tradition in printing, with many press and printing machines invented and developed here, has probably had a lot to do with the Germans' avid reading habit.

"Magazine publishing in Germany is the most dense in the world," says Christoph Groffy, a spokesman for Gruner & Jahr AG&Co, one of Germany's giant publishing houses which turns out 90 titles including Stern and Berliner Zeitung.

"The good times are over," Groffy said at Gruner and Jahr's headquarters in Hamburg. "It's still profitable, but not as much as it once was."

The federal government is more concerned about how the declining newspaper readership will affect Germany's democratic system.

In its heyday, the press was influential and helped people make their political choices, especially around election time.

Now officials are worried that declining readership means increasing political ignorance.

The head of the international media cooperation division in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Monika Schmidt-Fockenhausen, said: "Nowadays, some people don't even know that they have the power to change the chancellor (through elections).

"Even some of my staff don't read newspapers."

To date, however, the federal government has limited itself to monitoring the trend. After all, there is little it can do because the Basic Law guarantees a liberal and independent press, so it must remain free from any kind of government interference.

"The situation is certainly worse than two years ago, but it is not bad enough for action to be taken," Schmidt-Fockenhausen said in Bonn.

She attributes the shift to changing lifestyles brought about by the trend toward a two-income family -- where both parents work and the children go to school -- and no one has time for the luxury of reading newspapers in the morning.

"A lot of families are not used to having a newspaper delivered to their home in the morning," she said. "This is happening even among the middle class."

"But if young kids don't read newspapers this could mean problems for Germany's future."

The declining readership is also attributed to high unemployment -- exceeding 10 percent nationwide -- and the growing popularity of television.

Television has not replaced newspapers when it comes to political news as it is seen more as an entertainment media than an information media.

Statistics from the newspaper publishers association reveal that only 67 percent of people in the 14-29 years age group regularly read newspapers. In contrast, the rate is above 80 percent for people in the 40-70 years age group.

Publishers have recognized the problem and some have started doing something to reverse the trend.

Some publishing houses are giving free three-month newspaper subscriptions to high school students and encouraging teachers to assign projects that involve newspapers.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers, Anja Pasquay, said: "We learn that many of those who work with newspapers at school eventually become subscribers."

"We consider it an investment in the young people."

Content and appearance are also changing to meet the needs of the young people, she said, recalling a survey that found young people were chiefly interested in local and sports news.

Some newspapers have already started publishing regular supplements targeting at teenagers.

The federal government also feels that, ultimately, it is up to the newspaper owners to do something about the decline in readership among young Germans.

"We can't tell the young people to read newspapers," Schmidt- Fockenhausen said. "It's the newspapers who have to encourage the young to read."

Going local, or, in the case of Augsburger, staying local, was the key to its success, according to Wilke.

Most people pick up newspapers to know about what has been happening in their locality. They get their national news from television and other media.

Augsberger's management, at one time, thought of going national but decided that the newspaper's main interest should remain with the local people.

The newspaper, however, feels that it has reached the point of saturation and circulation is now growing only slightly.

But at least, it has a captive market.

"We ain't got no competitor here," Wilke said.

Monopolistic tendencies appear to have been accepted as a fact of life, at least for regional and local newspapers, with most towns having only one newspapers. Berlin, Hamburg and a few other large cities are the rare exceptions.

The state government's deputy governor Wolfgang Lembach, in Mainz, said: "We have four daily newspapers in the Pfal Rheinhessen state, one in every territory. So actually we have a monopoly situation."

"But we don't have any basic problem with the press," he said. "On the whole we're quite content with the situation."

The federal government, however, disapproves of the trend toward greater concentration of newspaper ownership although publishers and newspaper executives feel that it is all in the past.

A monopolistic press does not bode well for democracy and the government has enacted a law, one of the few legislations regulating the press, to prevent concentration of ownership.

The public has every reason to be concerned. Between 1945 and 1976, the number of newspaper publishers fell from 225 to 121, and the share of the five largest press conglomerations has risen from 40 to 45 percent.

The law requires that any merger proposal between newspapers with annual turnovers of 25 million DM must notify an anti-cartel council, which has the right to reject the move. In other businesses, the cutoff point is 500 million DM before any merger proposal is referred to the council.

Schmidt-Fockenhausen said the majority of newspapers in Germany are still owned by regional families but at least the constitutional safeguard is there should there be any renewed spate of mergers.

"I don't fear for our democratic system," she said.

Pasquay from the publishers' association said that small and big publishing houses could coexist without the need to introduce any additional regulations.

"We have to try not to hurt each other too badly. There is fierce competition but there is the idea that the market is sufficient for everyone.

"We want the newspaper industry to be as unregulated as possible," she said.

One of the giant publishing houses that is always looking to buy is Gruner and Jahr, which started as a magazine publisher but has, since 1989, branched out into newspapers as well.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 gave it the opportunity it had been looking for and it duly acquired the Berliner Zeitung -- one of the largest newspapers from the former East Germany side of town -- and the Berliner Kurier, as well as the Sachsische Zeitung in Dresden.

Any more purchases on the horizon?

"Let's put it this way," G&J spokesman Groffy said. "If a newspaper is profitable, the owners won't want to sell it."

The giant publishing house, knowing the limits in Germany, has been aggressive in its foreign expansion.

It has purchased seven womens' magazines from the New York Times group -- with titles including Child, Fitness and American Homestyle & Gardening -- which Groffy describes as "a very good move" as they are all now starting to turn profitable.

The company is also well established in France and is moving into Russia and soon to China. It is also looking into internet publications in Germany and elsewhere.

"We know the public is watching us," Groffy said. "If G&J expands in Germany, it will be accused of undermining democracy."

"We will be accused of having a large influence over public opinion but, really, so can many others," he said, citing the example of the Hamburg-based national tabloid Bilt Zeitung which sells 4.8 million copies a day.