Estonia`s media tigers

Transcription

papergram
2 › 2007
G R A P H I C PA P E R
Estonia’s media
tigers
– economic
growth drives market boom
Konstantin Neven DuMont
– 12th generation publisher
Magazines for dog lovers
Fanzines and their
not-so-professional creators
sca papergram no 2 › 2007
4
Papergram. International magazine for the graphics and
media industries, published by SCA Forest Products AB,
Box 846, 851 23 Sundsvall.
Telephone: +46 60 19 40 00. Telefax: +46 60 19 40 90
22
25
Editor-in-chief: Anne-Sofie Cadeskog (responsible
under Swedish press law)
Project leadership and managing editor:
Luise Steinberger, [email protected]
English editing: Greg McIvor and Keith Foster
Graphic design: Mellerstedt Design
Printing: Accidenstryckeriet Sundsvall
cover photo: IBL
Papergram is printed on
GraphoCote 80 g paper and
the front cover on Reprint 150 g.
The paper is FSC-certified.
Contents › 2/2007
Radio frequency identification
(RFID) makes it easier to keep tabs on goods in the
distribution chain. But large paper reels present the technology with new challenges.
4 RFID keeps check
6 The Baltic tiger
Estonia boasts one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe. The media industry
is expansive and incredibly multi-faceted. Papergram takes a look.
12 Trends
14 All about the dog
Man’s best friend is the inspiration for no fewer than four different kinds of magazine.
18 You have to be ready
Konstantin Neven DuMont has newsprint in his blood. He is the 12th generation
to run the DuMont-Schauberg family publishing house and respected titles like
Kölnische Rundschau, Mitteldeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter Rundschau.
20 Lodgepole put to the test
A wood from Canada is poised to become an important raw material. Future uses
are now being tested.
23 Column
Claude-Jean Bertrand on the responsibilities of the media.
24 Homemade rags
Fanzines are magazines produced by enthusiastic laymen. They usually focus on
an artist, a phenomenon or a hobby.
27 Trends
28 Why own a wood?
The content of this magazine is commissioned, checked
and approved by the editorial team. This does not mean
that the editorial team or SCA necessarily share all opinions expressed by individual writers. Feel free to quote
us, but please name us as your source.
Would you like your own copy of Papergram, or one to
give away to a colleague? Contact us with your name,
address and company name where appropriate:
Birgitta Ulfsparre, SCA Graphic Sundsvall AB, Box 846,
851 23 Sundsvall, Sweden. Phone: +46 60 194392.
Fax: +46 60 152450. E-mail: [email protected]
SCA Forest Products produces publication papers for
newspapers, magazines and catalogues, pulp, solid-wood
products and forest-based bio-fuels. SCA Forest Products
also manages SCA’s extensive forest holdings, supplies
SCA’s Swedish industries with raw materials and offers
cost-efficient transport solutions to SCA’s units.
Group turnover is around SEK 18,000 million and the
company has 4,000 employees. SCA’s forestry operations are certified in accordance with the standards of
the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
SCA › info
New GraphoMatt weight unveiled
A new grade of LWC paper has been
Zebra fish love Östrand’s
waste water
Östrand pulp mill in Sundsvall, northern Sweden, has introduced a
NEW APPPOINTMENTS
JérÔme van Lidth is the new Sales Manager in
Belgium and takes up his post on 14 May. He comes
from a family business in offset printing and graphic
design and has previously worked in logistics and
telecommunications at international companies.
Roine Morin has been appointed Environmental
Director at SCA Forest
Products. He took over on 1 March and heads
SCA Forest Products’ environmental council. He
will also represent the business group i n the SCA
Group environmental council and on the business
group’s environmental issues inside and outside
SCA. Roine will continue to head the environmental
organisation at SCA Graphic Sundsvall and will
assist SCA Timber on environmental matters.
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Ingela Ekebro, previously Deputy Production
Director at the Östrand pulp mill, has been appointed
Production Director at the Östrand.
S
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series of environmental measures in the last ten years. Completely chlorine-free bleaching, a high degree of closure of the white water system and
efficient biological effluent treatment have resulted in the best-ever results
measured by the Swedish Environmental Research Institute.
The test, carried out last year, was in two parts. First was a chemical
analysis of substances known to cause environmental pollution. EGOM
(Extractible Gas Chromatograpable Organic Matter) and PBS (Potential
Bio-accumulative Substances) are measures of substances that can
accumulate in living organisms. These substances can move up in the food
chain and accumulate in the bodies of those at the top, such as humans
and fish-eating birds. But no such substances were detectable in the
effluent from Östrand, which is unusual for a pulp mill.
The other part of the test looked at the effect of effluent on crustaceans
and fish in terms of toxicity, growth rate, sex ratio and reproduction. The test
fish were two generations of the aquarium species zebra danio. Happily,
no adverse effects on reproductive abilities were noted and the zebra fish
survived healthily in the waste water throughout the test period.
www.publicationpapers.sca.com
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Waste water from the Östrand pulp mill has such low levels
of effluent that normal use is unlikely to have any adverse
impact when released into the environment. That’s according
to tests carried out in 2006.
GraphoMatt is manufactured using chlorinefree pulp and is certified to Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC) standards.
The new paper is available in grammages of
57, 60, 65 and 70 g/m². A folder describing the
new GraphoCote can be ordered in French,
British and American English, German, Spanish, Polish, Italian and Swedish. Order it at
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launched by SCA – GraphoMatt 70 gm. It is an
easily read, matt, coated paper for heatset web
offset printing.
“These qualities become clear when large
quantities of printed text are combined with a
demand for good picture reproduction. Thanks
to the matt reflection-free surface the printed
word is perfectly rendered, while the illustrations have a nice sheen,” says Jan Knuts, Coated
Paper Manager at SCA Graphic Sundsvall.
Åke Westb e rg , previ-
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ously Production Director
at Östrand, will continue to
work as Project Manager.
His most recent project was Östrand’s new soda
boiler and he is now leading preparations for an
investment in increased TMP capacity and a new
paper machine at Ortviken. Åke is also in charge
of SCA Forest Product’s lodgepole pine project and chairs SCA Forest
Product’s timber council, which coordinates timber support issues in SCA’s
Swedish operations.
Annual and sustainability Reports published
SCA Graphic Sundsvall has published its
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environmental report for 2006. Also out are SCA
Group’s annual report and sustainability report
for 2006, which will be distributed together
this year. All these publications can be ordered
in Swedish and English at www.sca.com or
www.publicationpapers.sca.com.
Remote presence – the se
Radio Frequency Identification technology has taken the logistics
and production world by storm, allowing goods and deliveries to be
tracked at all times. Professor Hans-Erik Nilsson at Mid-Sweden
University in Sundsvall predicts the revolution has much further to run.
Text Lena Sjödin PHoto Leif Milling, Mattias O Nils
Imagine that as you load your groceries
into the trolley they transmit the price to
an automated cash register. No need for
a checkout assistant. Imagine that your
children carry transmitters that enable
you to see they’ve got to school safely. Or
that your stomach is fitted with a smart
electronic tag so it can communicate how
it’s feeling.
“We’re not there yet but the technology is going to develop really fast,” says
Hans-Erik Nilsson, professor in electronic design at Mid-Sweden University
in Sundsvall.
He’s in charge of a research team
working on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in two research
programmes: the Fibre Science and
Communication Network and Electronic Systems for Sensible Things that
Communicate.
Developed in the 1980s, RFID is
relatively old technology in a logistics
context. It involves a passive memory,
with antenna being affixed as a label onto
a package or product. A special reader
close to the label transfers electricity to
the RFID chip, which in turn transmits
ensor revolution is here
the contents stored in its memory. The
technology makes it possible to read
large product volumes quickly and easily
and is, for example, used on automotive
industry production lines to ensure that
the right part is used in the right place
in the right model.
Effective inventory management
Another area the researchers are studying
is the way new technology changes behaviour and processes in an organisation. A
key factor is to show how an investment
in RFID can generate cost savings in the
form of reduced inventory levels and improved control.
“One problem that RFID tackles is
when there is an interested customer
but the product is out of stock,” Nilsson says. “Through the total control
that you get with RFID, you can reduce
and even avoid the out-of-stock period.
This makes stock taking so much easier
and something you can do several times
a day.”
At the moment, the latest RFID
advances are being held back by incompatibility issues with corporate finance
and enterprise systems.
“The success of RFID is as much
about a commercial approach as technical issues,” Nilsson observes.
“One way is to charge for adding
value to RFID instead of focusing on
cutting costs.”
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Paper industry challenge
For the paper industry, RFID tagging
offers many potential benefits, such as
inventory management and logistics and
quality assurance.
Yet there a number of technological
challenges regarding how best to design
the hardware – the label.
A major focus in this field is how to
optimise RFID tagging of large paper
reels. Paper is a sensitive product which,
according to Hans-Erik Nilsson, is transported by truck and sometimes wrapped,
so the most practical way is to put the
label inside the reel.
Hans-Erik Nilsson points out however that the energy in the radio waves
emitted by the label is absorbed by organic matter like thick layers of paper.
Putting a label inside a paper reel reduces the range of the radio waves and
makes it harder to read the labels, thus
sacrificing simplicity.
If placed on the reel surface, multiple
labels are needed to allow effective reading from different angles. Also, the labels
themselves must be stronger in order to
withstand environmental factors like
dust, humidity and abrasion. This makes
the labels more expensive (though more
advanced labels can have added functionality, such as error alert indicators).
from label readers. Another alternative is
to use printed batteries that provide extra
energy to the RFID label. This allows the
reading distance to be increased considerably, which in turn makes the tagging
process much easier.
A chip powered by a printed battery
can react to environmental stimuli such
as temperature and humidity, while the
distance between label and reader can be
increased to 15-20 metres (compared to
the 3-4 metres possible today).
“Stock taking becomes
so much easier and is something you
can do several times a day.”
hans-erik nilsson
Smart energy supply
Great efforts are being made to make
RFID cheaper. Researchers are examining ways to print effective batteries and
antennae straight onto paper with electronic ink. These electronic labels have
great advantages because they aren’t
completely dependent on electricity
Baltic tiger find
nds its roar
Estonia’s economy is
booming – and so is its media industry. A rapid round of
media industry privatisation after national independence
has been followed by a phase of consolidation. Two major
companies now dominate the market: the locally-owned
Ekspress Group and Eesti Meedia, part of Norway’s
Schibsted Group.
Text Tadeusz Rawa photo Rauno Volmar, Rene Suurkaev, Rein Sikk, Raigo Pajula, Tadeusz Rawa
its 1.35 million citizens seem to have a
strong need to communicate and air
their opinions. The media sector is
thriving, boasting 30 magazines and
an equal number of daily newspapers.
Many of these are locally based and
quite a few are aimed at Estonia’s Russian-speaking minority (see separate
article). There is a strong tradition
of subscribing to a daily paper, while
weeklies and magazines tend to be sold
over the counter.
From his 12th floor office, Mart Kadastik, head of the Eesti Meedia group,
has a panoramic view of capital city
Tallinn’s old town and the skyscrapers
that today dominate the urban landscape. His company is growing as rapidly
as the city outside his window.
“The main reasons are that the Estonian economy is growing fast and
the advertising market is growing even
faster,” explains Kadastik, who started
out as a journalist in 1977. “Last year,
advertising revenue rose 29 per cent at
Postimees, 30 percent at Kanal 2 and 15
per cent at our magazines.”
Eesti Meedia’s flagship is Postimees,
the country’s largest daily newspaper.
Postimees (meaning “postman”) is Estonia’s oldest daily, tracing its roots back
to 1891, and has always been a symbol of
national independence. During the first
Estonian republic in the 1920s, Postimees
was the most important publication in
the country. It was closed down when
Estonia became part of the Soviet Union
in 1941, reopening when the country
regained independence in 1991.
Today, Eesti Media is part of Norway’s Schibsted media group, which
owns a 92.5 per cent stake in the business. Altogether, Eesti Media has full
or part ownership of eight newspapers,
including national and local titles, as
well as 15 magazines, the country’s largest TV channel, a radio station and the
Kroonpress printing company.
Quality comes first
Printing firm Kroonpress is also enjoying
Eesti Meedia’s expansion, increasing its
sales by 10 per cent last year. Producing
Eesti Meedia’s titles accounts for 50 per
cent of its business, with the rest made
up of magazines, catalogues and direct
advertising for external customers.
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Estland may be a small country, but
“We do everything from prepress to
distribution,” says Andres Kull, chief
executive at Kroonpress. “Because the
print plant is in Tartu our deadlines are
very tight, especially for daily newspapers, which have to be transported 190
kilometres to Tallinn every morning.”
Estonia’s printing paper industry is
tiny, which is why Kroonpress began
importing paper from Finland in 1993.
It also buys some supplies from Russian
“The classic division between
conservative, liberal and
socialist papers doesn’t
exist in Estonia.”
Mart Kadastikik
producers and in the last few years has
added Sweden’s SCA, Stora and Holmen
Paper to its suppliers.
Around 30 per cent of Kroonpress’s
sales are from exports of newspapers
and magazines. The primary customers
are in Norway and Latvia, with companies in Sweden, Finland, Russia and a
number of other countries also on the
list.
The days in which price was Kroonpress’s main competitive weapon are
long gone, according to Kull. “The rapid
increase in wages in Estonia has put paid
to that. These days our trump card is
quality.”
Modern equipment
Peterburi Street, just outside Tallinn
city centre, is home to the shiny new
Baltic Times crosses the border
English-language newspaper the Bal-
ing for one quarter each. The readership
consists mainly of expatriates living in the
Baltic states and the editor is an American,
Steve Roman.
Estonia has an English-language newspaper of its own in the shape of City Paper,
which is a bi-weekly. There is also Nasz
Czas, a magazine for Polish speakers. It
is published in each of the Baltic states,
though the Polish minority is much larger in
Latvia than in Lithuania and Estonia.
Margus Liivamägi, sales manager at printers Printall, says the dominance of two major
media and printing companies in Estonia is no barrier to competition.
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tic Times started out in 1992 as two separate
titles: the Baltic Independent in Tallinn and
the Baltic Observer in Riga. They merged in
1996, keeping the Baltic Times name, and a
Russian-US banker has been the proprietor
for the past three years.
A total of 20 staff work at three editorial
offices, one in each of the Baltic capitals
– Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Latvia accounts for
half the Baltic Times’ circulation of 12,00015,000, with Estonia and Lithuania account-
newspapers in russian
Unlike in neighbouring Latvia, where
considerable tension exists between Russian-speakers and the majority Latvians, it is
clear in Estonia that the different linguistic
and ethnic groups are keen to find their own
place in society.
For this reason, Molodjozh Estonii’s political coverage tends to be somewhat cautious.
Vladimir Fridljand, deputy
editor of Molodjozh
Estonii (above).
Newspapers are bundled
and placed in order, ready
for delivery (right).
“It wouldn’t go down very well with Estonians
if we were first to criticise some of the political phenomena we see in the country, but
this approach is our own choice and not
down to pressure from external sources.”
The newspaper is self-financing, with the
bulk of revenue coming from advertising.
On the newsstands a copy costs 7 kroons
(€0.50), with the weekend edition (including TV supplement) costing 15 kroons (€1).
An annual subscription costs 1,200 kroons
(€83).
Together with Molodjozh Estonii, there
are around ten Russian-speaking newspapers in Estonia. These titles can be found
in Tallinn and Pärnu but especially in towns
in the north-east of the country − Narva,
Kohtla Järvi and Sillanmäe − where Russianspeakers are in the majority.
The importance attached to
communication across linguistic and cultural borders
is highlighted by the fact
that Postimees, the country’s largest newspaper,
and the freesheet Linnaleht
both print Russian-language
editions.
S
had two Russian-language newspapers
– Sovjetskaja Estonia, the official organ of
the Estonian Communist Party and Molodjozh
Estonii (“Estonian Youth”), which was run
by the Communist Party youth organisation
Komsomol.
Sovjetskaja Estonia is defunct, but
Molodjozh Estoni is still going strong, with
a circulation of 7,000 (rising to 13,000 at
weekends). Indeed, it is now Estonia’s largest
Russian-language newspaper.
“We estimate that we have between
60,000 and 70,000 readers because newspapers are generally read by several family
members,” says Vladimir Fridljand, deputy
editor of Molodjozh Estonii.
The title was privatised in 1991 and the
30 employees became shareholders, though
a single private investor has owned the paper
for the last few years.
Molodjozh Estonii is published five days a
week, filling 24 pages (doubling to 48 on Saturdays). The coverage ranges from politics
and economics to sport and culture. The staff
stands at 60, of whom 12 are journalists.
“Like the rest of the Estonian press, we are
free and independent in our news coverage.
In the 1990s we campaigned for the rights of
the Russian minority in the country, but most
of those problems have been solved since
then,” Fridljand says.
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At the end of the Soviet era, Estonia
Postimees, daily newspaper
owner: Eesti Meedia
circulation: 63,000
cover price: 12 Estonian kroons
(75 cents)
subscriptions: 90 per cent
“We can deliver to almost all European countries
within 48 hours of receiving an order.”
Margus Liivamägi
SL Öhtuleht, tabloid newspaper
owner: co-owned by Eesti Meedia
and Express Group
circulation: 65,000
(60 cents)
subscriptions: 50 per cent
Eesti Ekspress, Estonia’s largest
weekly
owner: Ekspress Group
circulation: 50,000
(€1.15)
printing plant that is the headquarters of
Printall, Estonia’s second largest printing house. The company moved out
from the downtown area to the suburbs
in 2004.
“You can’t get a more modern plant
than this,” says Printall sales manager
Margus Liivamägi. “Our main focus is
printing high-quality magazines, and
clients range from in-house assignments
to Estonian and foreign customers.”
Printall exports around half its output, mainly to Russia but also to Sweden,
Finland, Norway and other countries.
“Flexibility is one of our major strengths.
We can print and deliver to almost anywhere in Europe within 48 hours of getting an order,” Liivamägi says.
power
in pink
Äripäev, business
newspaper
owner: Bonnier
circulation: 20,000
cover price: 19 Estonian
kroons (€1.20)
10
Äripäev, owned by Sweden’s Bonnier
Group, has a circulation of 20,000 in
Estonia and is the country’s top financial
newspaper. A stablemate of Dagens Industri in Sweden, it is regarded as having
a strong influence in its home market.
Printall purchases the bulk of its publication paper from Finland and Russia.
Sweden is the third largest source market, and SCA supplies the company with
LWC paper and newsprint.
The market dominance of two big
media groups doesn’t mean there isn’t
competition, Liivamägi stresses. “We
have to stay competitive on price, even
when it comes to newspapers and magazines in our own group.”
Competition and cooperation
Printall is owned by Estonia’s second
largest media corporation, Ekspress
Group. Ekspress owns in turn 50 per
cent of Eesti Päevelaht, the country’s
second largest daily newspaper. The remaining half is owned by Jaan Manitski,
who lived in Sweden for many years and
whose CV includes a stint as financial
adviser to the pop group Abba.
The weekly Eesti Ekspress is another
of Ekspress Group’s top titles, launched
as Estonia’s first independent newspaper 16 years ago by the group’s current
owner, Hans H Luik.
Despite being competitors, Eesti
Media and Ekspress Group work together through a jointly owned company
Early in the morning newspapers are
driven 190 kilometres from Tartu to
Tallinn, home of the majority of readers.
All the same, talented journalists are
not easy to find – even though salaries
in the profession are above the Estonian
average at around 1,110 per month before tax.
“The only journalism course in the
country is at Tallinn University, and they
produce just twenty graduate journalists
a year, many of whom go into professions other than journalism,” Kadastik
says.
Estonia’s fast-growing economy offers many other opportunities in which
people with communications skills can
have even higher-flying careers than in
journalism.
S
that publishes a stable of 25 magazines
representing 70 per cent of Estonia’s
magazine market. These titles are mainly
women’s, lifestyle, photographic and
children’s magazines.
Eesti Media and Ekspress Group also
own the country’s largest tabloid, SL
Öhtuleht, and freesheet Linnaleht.
Mart Kadastik at Eesti Media says
Estonia has a “Scandinavian” journalistic culture and ethical standards.
“The Estonian media are genuinely free
and independent. Newspapers have no
party political affiliations and the classic
division between conservative, liberal
and socialist papers doesn’t exist in
Estonia.”
Est0nia
Forests as % of total area:
State ownership of forests:
Private ownership of forests:
48 %
91%
9%
GDP per capita (2005): US$16,400 (PPP)
GDP growth (2006): 10.5%
Exports (2005):
US$7,439 million
Imports (2005): US$9,200 million
Inflation (2006):
Unemployment (2005): Personal income tax (flat rate): Corporate income tax: Employers’ contributions: VAT: Area:
45 226 km
Population: 1,350,000
Form of government: Republic
President: Toomas Hendrik Ilves
Prime minister:
Andrus Ansip
(Reform Party)
2
Ethnic composition:
Estonian
Russian Ukrainian Belarusian Finnish
67.9 %
25.6 %
2.1 %
2.1 %
0.9 %
4.6%
6.8%
22%
0%
33%
18%
Main export markets (2005):
1. Finland
26.2%
2. Sweden
13.1%
3. Latvia
8.8%
4. Russia
6.5%
5. Germany 6.2%
Main import markets (2005):
1. Finland
19.7%
2.Germany
14.0%
3. Russia 9.2%
4. Sweden 8.7%
5. Lithuania
6.0%
6. Latvia
4.7%
11
trends
Text Luise Steinberger
Anti-bacterial paper
All those bacteria that love congregating in of-
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fices are living dangerously. An anti-bacterial paper
launched in the US is coated with a silver compound
similar to that found on some plastics. It protects
against germs, scents, mould and dampness.
Possible areas of use include the health care sector,
laboratories, educational establishments and other
public buildings. The paper can also be printed without diminishing its anti-bacterial qualities.
News
for kids
¸
can become
the standard
Software creator Adobe intends to release
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its coding for the PDF 1.7 software to industry organisation AIIM so that it in turn will be
handed over to the international standardisation
organisation ISO. This would mean PDF becoming a generally accepted standard, no longer
protected by trademark regulations. Adobe has
already given some of its software to the ISO, in
areas such as archiving software and programs
for technical use.
S
Mitteldeutsche Zeitung in Halle, eastern Germany, has launched a newspaper for children.
Galaxo is published twice a week and for
the moment is a PDF publication that can be
downloaded from the Internet.
However, even though Galaxo is a kind of
PDF newsletter it looks like a daily newspaper
– for good reasons, according to editor Jörg
Biallas. “The idea is to introduce the newspaper
to children and to satisfy their curiosity.”
Children aged 8 to 12 are interested in what
their parents are interested in. Many have begun
to read ordinary papers, and the publishers hope
that having their very own paper will encourage
their interest.
“Naturally we have to use language that is
adapted to suit them, but it doesn’t have to be
childish or snooty,” Biallas says.
Galaxo is not free for all. Only households that
already subscribe to Mitteldeutsche Zeitung can
order it.
¸
The world’s oldest magazine now solely online
Post- och Inrikes Tidningar, the Swedish government newspaper and
gazette founded in 1645, has been printed on paper for centuries. But
that era is now at an end. PoIT has been available in online form only
since the turn of the year.
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“We see this as a cultural
disaster,” says Hans Holm, editor for the last 20 years. “It’s a
shame that’s it’s happened to
a magazine that I’ve worked on
for so long and which has been
going for such a long time.”
PoIT was started by Sweden’s Queen Kristina to keep
citizens abreast of events
throughout her realm. At first
it came out as a kind of on-the-wall newspaper around the country, later
becoming a subscription-based magazine. But in recent years subscriber
numbers have fallen drastically and the printed edition grew too expensive.
Circulation prior to closure was as low as 1,000.
12
Learning
to understand
Hello India!
The Swiss city of Lugano held a conference in March entitled “A
UK celebrity magazine Hello! has entered the Indian
the communication problems experienced by Arab and Western media,
particularly since 9/11 and the controversial caricatures of the Prophet
Mohammed in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Journalists and representatives of news media in the Middle East and the West were on
hand to talk about their work. One point made was that newsrooms in
the Middle East are often owned by private groups and come under the
surveillance of security services, which makes independent journalism
difficult. Correspondents covering the Middle East for Western media
revealed how their editors often demanded material that confirmed prejudices, and that many colleagues had neither the time nor the inclination
to try to understand the culture and lifestyle of Muslim countries. This
led to incorrect angles in reports.
On the positive side, it was noted that the online world has a living
dialogue between Arab and Western bloggers – though this interaction
often brings danger to participants.
S
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market. The first issue of the Indian version came out in
March and featured the same cover picture as its British
relative: actress Liz Hurley marrying Indian businessman
Arun Nayar. Editor Ruchika Mehta says around 80 per
cent of the material will cover Indian celebrities in order
to give the magazine a solid fan base there.
The launch of Hello! is yet another sign that the Indian
market is a huge attraction for expansion-minded European and US magazine publishers. The market already
features Indian editions of Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire,
Seventeen, Maxim, Time Out and OK. However, MediaGuardian.co.uk reports that establishing these titles has
been a low-key affair as publishers are wary of making
heavy investments themselves, preferring to sell licences
to local companies. This hesitancy could be because
the Indian market is fragmented with many magazines
coming out in localised regional languages.
Thousand and One Misunderstandings”. The conference concerned
(Source: Spiegel.de)
Readers decide the contents
The future will see readers having more of a say in what a newspaper writes about.
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That was the prediction Alan Rusbridger, editor of Britain’s The Guardian, at the Changing
Media Summit in London in March.
“We’re always walking a tightrope between what is happening
on the Web and what gets printed in the paper edition,” Rusbridger
said. He used the term “user-generated” to describe how a large
part of the paper’s content will be derived in the future – on the Web
at least.
However, he stressed that there will still be a need and space
for traditional journalism. “In this multimedia century the role of the
journalist has not changed. User-generated content should only
be a complement to the journalist’s work.”
13
A dog’s life
in
Shepherds, bomb sniffers, diamond-decked
models, good company or something that
comes in on a plate – dogs are valued
differently according to where you are on
the planet. People in the West believe
in their loyalty, a feeling reflected in the
market’s doggy magazines.
Text Henrik Emilson PHoto Robert Matton, Olle Melkerhed
14
Much has happened in the canine
world recently. In China, dogs have long
been thought of purely as food, but since
1990 it’s been legal to keep them. There
are restrictions, though, such as one dog
per household and a maximum shoulder
height of 35 centimetres. In the West, our
love of dogs just goes on growing and the
market in pets in the US, Canada and
Western Europe is estimated at around
€50 billion.
This interest in our four-legged
friends is also reflected in the way different dog magazines build up their profiles.
They fall roughly within four categories.
First come those dedicated to a particular
breed, like US titles Boxers, Chihuahuas,
Golden Retrievers, Jack Russell Terriers, Saint
canine fashion in suede, silk, leather or
even a tartan creation complete with
beret and a little set of bagpipes. Also
on display are diamond-studded collars,
shoes (from €10 to €70 for all four), a
pram-like wagon so the owner can take
the dog along on a jogging expedition
(costing €200 and able to carry dogs
weighing up to 32 kilograms) and not
least doggy nappies in various playful
colours and fabrics. Along with questions and answers, the reader can enjoy
portraits of celebrities posing with their
stylised and well-manicured canine
friends.
“Our readers are a new type of dog
owner,” says editor Leslie Padgett.
“The people who are helping to drive
the greatest and most sustained growth
ever seen in the pet industry: 40 billion
print
“Our readers are a new type of dog
owner. The folks that treat their dogs
like one of the family.”
Leslie Padgett
For all dog lovers
The fourth kind of dog magazine finds
itself a home in the mainstream between
competition addicts and diamond collars, wagging its tail at ordinary dog
owners. “Dogs Today of the UK publishes 12 glossy issues a year for anyone
who loves dogs, says editor Beverley
Cuddy.
“We have loyal, wonderful readers.
Recently our office was destroyed by a
flash flood and we lost all our archives.
Amazingly, 15 readers contacted us
S
Bernards and Schnauzers. Then come the
publications that focus on competitions,
pedigrees, tables, results and all sorts of
activities you can do with your dog. One
example is the almost 20-year-old Canadian magazine Mushing, which tells you
all you need to know about winter sports
involving dog-pulling.
The third category views dogs almost
as an accessory to their owners – an extension of their personalities that goes some
way towards proving that owners end up
taking after their dogs. This kind of dog
is a luxury item. US sister publications
The New York Dog and The Hollywood Dog
are filled with everything that can make
a doggy – or at least its owner – happy.
In these bi-monthly titles you can find
dollars and counting! The folks that
treat their dogs like one of the family.
We know them, because we are those
people. Our dogs eat organic food, are
washed in the best dog shampoos and
conditioners, dressed in designer duds
and covered by comprehensive medical
insurance.”
15
Doggy trends
S
“The latest fad is for hot crosses,” says Dogs
Today’s Beverley Cuddy. She explains that
large sums change hands for specially bred
varieties with inventive names like Labradoodle or Cockerdoodle.
In the UK, trend-conscious owners are
wary of buying pure breeds with long pedigrees because health checks and followups are not mandatory. This gives rise to
fears of inbreeding and subsequent health
risks. A new cross of two breeds reduces
these risks and the demand for these dogs
is high.
“Breeders are charging lots more than
for mainstream pedigree dogs. Lots
of celebs have bought these dogs
for big money too – Jennifer Aniston
has a Labradoodle for example. The
downside is that lots of people have
been tempted to breed these crosses
and we worry that over-production
may mean more unwanted dogs in
shelters. When fashion and fads influence dog ownership we do worry. For
example movies like 101 Dalmatians and
Beethoven had terrible consequences for
animal welfare.”
offering to give us their complete back
catalogue! Few readers of any title retain every single copy – and to find that
so many people had kept 17 years of our
magazine cheered us all up as we stood
up to our knees in water.”
In Sweden, the newly-launched Härliga Hund (“Lovely dog”), which is also
aimed at a broad readership, has received
early confirmation of its readers’ loyalty.
A recent survey of publishing statistics
showed that the canine mag had attracted the most long-term subscribers
in 2006.
“Obviously we’re making a magazine
that people believe in and one that people
think will be around a long time as most
sign up for a 12-month subscription,”
chuckles editor Karl Zetterberg.
Missing family members
Dogs Today and Härliga Hund both offer
practical, educational tips about dog
ownership, care and training. But they
also run features about dogs in different
16
countries, dog acupuncture and pain relief, vaccinations, and whether a dog can
be dangerous to small children. There is
a lot of interaction with readers. Many
read every line, save their magazines and
write in with questions and comments to
the magazine and its experts.
So how come dogs inspire so much
interest among their human owners?
Beverley Cuddy has the answer. “There’s
100,000 years of history of a friendship.
There are only a few species on earth
that love man no matter how they are
treated – dolphins, horses and dogs. Of
those, dogs are the easiest to live with.
The dog’s default setting is to get along
human friends, especially when it comes
to empathy.
“If you own a dog you must learn what
sort of character it has. It’s like having a
two-year old child for ten years. It often
makes us greater as human beings to feel
needed.”
S
Friend and helper
Apart from love and company, dogs
– like horses – are the animal that offers
mankind the most help. From hunting
and looking after livestock to guard
duty, police work and customs sniffing,
or even guiding the blind, the faithful
dog is on hand. It’s hardly surprising
that the trusty dog is the animal that
has had most magazines published in
its honour.
“I helped someone launch Cats Today
– but I had reservations which proved to
be well-founded,” says Beverley Cuddy.
“Cat ownership is very different. For
example, you wouldn’t fill many pages
with tales of cat bravery or cats helping
man as assistance cats. The same is true
of fish and rabbits. There is so much to
write about man’s best friend because
dogs really do amazing things.”
“If you own a dog you must learn what
sort of character it has because it's like
having a two-year-old child for ten years.”
Karl Zetterberg
with us – and in these increasingly
strange times we live in, the opportunist
dog has snuck in out of the garden and
onto our sofa. We may no longer need
his help to catch our dinner but the dog
fills a gap in many people’s lives caused
by the lonely lifestyles we increasingly
lead away from our extended families.
Dogs have now got human names, not
Fido or Spot. They have morphed into
our missing family members.”
Karl Zetterberg explains that a dog
which is well cared-for will give love
24/7. Dogs can also help develop their
Most popular dog breeds
1. Crossbreeds
2.Labrador
3. Pitbull
4. Shih tzu
5. German Shepherd
6. Yorkshire terrier
7. Chiuhuahua
8. Poddle
9. Maltese
10. Cocker spaniel
17
Born to
publish
Konstantin Neven DuMont, born in 1969 in Bergisch Gladbach, 12th generation publisher, part owner of M. DuMont-Schauberg, Cologne. Volun-
tary posts: board member of football club 1. FC Köln, Deutsche Presseagentur and Deutscher Presserat (ethics commission for the media), advisor to
NRW-Bank, lay judge at Landgericht Köln (court of appeal), and active on the boards of several of Cologne’s museums.
18
Being a publisher is all in the genes. Well,
apart from what can be learnt. That’s the
tongue-in-cheek opinion of Konstantin Neven
DuMont, part-owner and one of four managing
directors of the German publishing house
DuMont Schauberg, a firm of which he is
the 12th generation scion.
Text Luise Steinberger photo M. DuMont-Schauberg
When Konstantin Neven DuMont was
born in 1969 in Bergisch-Gladbach in
Rhineland, Germany, a career in publishing lay waiting for him. As the son of
Alfred Neven DuMont, today chairman
of the 200-year-old publishing house
M. DuMont-Schauberg, he was viewed
as the obvious candidate for one of the
company’s top posts.
“It’s true that as children we were
schooled to take over, but there was no
pressure on us. And I won’t place any on
my children either, they’re still so young.
They’ll be able to decide for themselves
if they want to carry on the family tradition,” says Konstantin Neven DuMont
in his light-filled office in the new Neven
DuMont-Haus building in Niehl, a suburb of Cologne.
Long-term business strategy
DuMont notes with pride that the company has come through the difficult
times without resorting to redundancies. Employees are valued highly at M.
DuMont-Schauberg.
“For us it’s extremely important to
have good relations with our employees.
We’re always trying to find joint solutions, even during crises,” he says.
Thus, experienced newspaper veterans
have learnt new skills and now work with
the online edition or web TV reports,
helped by young TV specialists. Though
the board of directors can’t be expected
to ignore the financial side of the business, staff know that the company won’t
leave them to the wolves.
“Obviously, we want to make a profit
every year too, but our strategy may be
more long-term than other publishers.
What counts for us isn’t just the annual
dividend but also the existence of the
company in five or ten years’ time.”
“It’s true that we children were thoroughly
trained to take over, but there was no
pressure on us.”
The first years weren’t easy for Konstantin, partly due to his family connections. “When I started here I felt a good
deal of resentment from my colleagues.
I suppose they thought that I’d walked
into the job because of my place in the
family. But over the years I’ve learnt a
lot and gained a lot of experience, and
nowadays my opinions are valued highly
because of my business competence.”
He has had to fight through some
tough times because daily newspapers
have had their fair share of problems in
recent years.
“The Cologne business area, just like
any other newspaper publisher, has lost
revenue. We have managed to compensate on the cost side but also by launching some highly innovative products,”
DuMont says.
Besides developing its website and TV
and radio operations, the company has
The founding principles of the editorial side support this philosophy. The
main aim is to be a bastion of democracy
by revealing injustices and serving readers and customers.
Slow growth
Publicly quoted companies may grow
faster as they can raise capital on the stock
market, while family-run businesses are
limited in this respect. But Konstantin
Neven DuMont is happy.
“We’ve even been able to take over
other publishers, such as with our recent
acquisition of [German federal gazette]
Bundesanzeiger. We’ve also bought a stake
in an Israeli publisher called Haarez and
become majority owners of the highly respected newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau.
We’re basically growing at a rate that a
family business can afford. It may take
more work, but it’s also a lot of fun.”
S
From acorn to oak
He started out doing newspaper internships in the school holidays at the age of
15. A few years later he decided to dedicate himself to the family firm and travelled to the US to study newspapers and
journalism at the School of Journalism
and Communication in Oregon.
“The US has some great journalism
schools,” he says. “The education is very
hands-on. It was also important for me to
gain some international experience. And
they say that the Americans are always
one step ahead of Europe when it comes
to technology.”
Computers and the Internet are at
heart American phenomena, and the
development of strategies in these areas
is one of many tasks that have ended up
on the young DuMont’s desk.
He heads M. DuMont-Schauberg’s
activities in Cologne, one of two business
areas. A cousin leads the other business
area, while two managing directors are
responsible for the financial and public
relations sides of the business. The Cologne business area includes the daily
papers Kölner Stadtanzeiger and Kölnische
Rundschau (which the publishing company was once built around) and the
evening paper Express.
branched into postal services and event
ticket sales.
19
Hopes high
In ten years’ time an “immigrant” to Sweden’s forests will
play a vital role in wood supply. The lodgepole pine was
planted in the 1970s and is now the subject of intensive
tests to determine how best to use it.
Text Mats Wigardt photo Per-Anders Sjöquist, Olle Hedvall
Today about 600,000 hectares of
lodgepole pine are growing in Sweden,
with almost half of that land area owned
by SCA. Intensive work is going into
exploring how this tree can best be put
to use – pulp or timber?
“It’s an exciting new raw material,”
says project manager Åke Westberg.
SCA began planting the fast-growing
lodgepole (or Pinus contorta, to give it its
scientific name) in the early 1970s to avoid
20
an upcoming generation gap when trees
aged between 50 and 70 years would be
scarce.
It may have been an immigrant but
the lodgepole was no stranger to Swedish shores. Back in the 1920s and 1930s,
small pockets of lodgepole pine were
planted around the country.
“They were often brought in by
hunters after visits to the tree’s home
country, Canada, when they brought
for lodgepole pine
“The lodgepole has thinner bark and
slimmer and more flexible fibres than
the Swedish pine.”
Åke Westberg
most proactive of the Swedish forestry
companies in developing and managing
the lodgepole.
After more than 35 years, the oldest lodgepole woods are now mature
enough for the first harvest. In 2006,
some 80,000 cubic metres of lodgepole
wood were felled on SCA-owned land,
and in the next decade that figure will
rise to 300,000 cubic metres every year.
In 40 or 50 years’ time the final thinning
of the forests will provide between 1 and
2 million cubic metres of lodgepole timber per year.
S
back with them pocketfuls of seed which
they planted here and there,” Westberg
explains.
SCA went about the whole thing far
more systematically. Stig Hagner, then
forest director, travelled to the western
coast of North America on several study
trips to collect seeds for comprehensive
planting trials in northern Sweden.
Compared to the Swedish pine the
lodgepole is a better survivor and has
a 40 per cent higher growth rate. It’s
also less tasty to local fauna like the elk
and it can cope with competition from
brushwood with great panache.
On the other hand, the full-grown
tree can be vulnerable to snow and wind,
and it has to be thinned out somewhat
earlier than its Swedish counterparts.
Despite sometimes strong criticism of importing foreign trees into
the Swedish countryside, substantial
lodgepole stands now exist around the
country. Around 280,000 hectares are
owned by SCA, which has been the
21
“We've carried out test sawing on a small
scale and we know that the lodgepole is
very useful as sawn timber too.”
Åke Westberg
The lodgepole pine facts
The lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) comes from North
S
America. It was introduced to the United Kingdom in the
mid-19th century, with the first trial planting in Scandinavia
being in Finland in 1910. SCA and Iggesund were the
pioneers of lodgepole pine cultivation in Sweden in the
late 1960s. Lodgepole pine grows faster and produces
more trunk volume than the Swedish spruce – and it has
a greater ability to survive as a young plant (though it dies
more easily when fully grown).
22
“For that reason it’s time to take a serious look at how best we can make use
of this raw material,” Westberg says.
There are a number of questions to
be asked. Should the lodgepole be sawn
timber or pulp wood? And which kind
of pulp is it best suited for?
The SCA Research & Development
Centre studies issues such as how the
lodgepole’s fibres affect pulp in terms
of their age and where they grow.
“The lodgepole is rather like the
Swedish spruce but has a number of
qualities unique to its species. The bark
is thinner and the fibres are slimmer and
more flexible,” Westberg says.
Relatively small quantities of timber have been harvested from SCA’s
lodgepole stands and these have been
delivered mostly to the Östrand pulp
mill, which produces a special pulp that
is used in the middle layer of milk cartons.
“It creates a stable carton of low
weight and at a low cost, and we’re very
happy with it,” Westberg confirms.
During the summer Östrand will
perform a major test run of sulphate
pulp based purely on lodgepole wood.

People are becoming more and
more frightened of the possible extinction of modern civilization following
some nuclear, biological, ecological or
financial disaster.
It is dawning on many of us that only
democracy can insure the survival of
mankind, and in order for democracy
to function and develop citizens need
to be well-informed about issues and to
debate them. That requires the existence
of top quality news media.
The way journalism works represents
a major obstacle to quality. Overwork,
tiredness, bureaucratic insensitivity,
failing imagination and other causes
lead to the same areas getting covered
every time. The same phenomena are
given constant attention.
Traditionally the media run human
interest stories and political information
which, to a large extent, are supplied to
them by businesses and other organisations. Press releases get published without challenge or critical examination,
while the same old handful of self-appointed experts are always consulted.
Cheap and easy to digest
Journalistic tradition is largely to blame
for this. Take three examples of how
editorial decisions are made:
“Iceberg journalism”, which consists
of covering only the visible part of reality.
“The half-empty glass” school of reporting which consists of mentioning
mainly conflicts, failures, violence and
disasters.
“Infotainment”, which fails to distinguish between what is interesting and
what is important.
The main causes of such journalistic habits are simple: they are easier,
cheaper and seemingly attractive.
Press quality can only be achieved
through a joint effort involving four
groups of people: professionals, public,
proprietors and politicians.
Much depends on the last two: they
are groups wielding well-organised
power. Media owners, whose long-term
profits, political influence and social
prestige are predicated on putting a
quality product on the market. And
elected and appointed officials who,
in a democracy, should be expected to
devote themselves to the welfare of the
public.
Teamwork the only answer
The two main protagonists, however, are
professional journalists and their public.
Journalists’ credibility, influence and social prestige are dependent on them providing a good service. Solidarity around
a common creed, a common “platform
for progress”, would empower them but,
sadly, deep down they remain individualistic craftsmen.
Media users do not have the knowledge, the motivation, the time or the
organisation to have any influence. They
feel powerless and need to be mobilised
in order to become involved.
Not any one or two or three of the
four groups involved can insure media
quality. They all need to cooperate. Rules
adopted by consensus within the profession and endorsed by the public need to
be respected.
I have introduced a method of ensuring media credibility, a system of media
responsibility called Media Accountability Systems (M*A*S). An M*A*S
can differ according to circumstances,
but the aim is to persuade the media and
journalists to respect their own ethical
regulations.
It could involve a news ombudsman,
individual methods of control, a press
council (a group assembled to keep an
eye on the press), mutually agreed sets
of rules and so on. The list can go on and
on. So far I have amassed 120 measures
aimed at improving media ethics.
S
S
Large volumes are there to be processed and there are plenty of positive
signals to follow up. “We’re working
extremely hard to exploit lodgepole’s
unique qualities in the best way possible,” Westberg says. “But it will be
another decade before we have sufficient quantities to refine it on a large
scale.”
Time for the media to pull socks up
CLAUDE-JEAN BERTRAND
photo: Private
The pulp will be used by a few selected
customers and the results will determine
the nature of future developments.
“When we get enough raw material
in we won’t be in any doubt about how
we should be using it,” Westberg concludes.
For the same reasons, a test felling of
1,600 cubic metres of timber was carried
out in November 2006 at SCA’s smalldimension saw mill in Graningebruk.
“We’ve carried out test sawing on a
small scale and we know that the lodgepole is very useful as sawn timber too,”
Westberg declares.
The results of the tests have been very
satisfactory. The lodgepole has shown
itself to be stable and easily dried, with
fewer deformities and cracks than Swedish fir or pine. As the wood is free of
black knot and knots are well spaced it is
well suited for use as interior panelling,
wainscoting and joint glue for knot-free
components.
Though Westberg wants to tone
down expectations for lodgepole wood
products – at least until the final round
of felling takes place – it does seem
clear that lodgepole will be a prominent
source of timber in the future.
column

Claude-Jean Bertrand is professor emeritus
at the French Press Institute, the IFP. He has
written several books on media ethics, among
them: Media Ethics and Accountability Systems
(2000) and An Arsenal For Democracy (2003).
For more information visit his website
www.media.accountability.org
23
Far away from the mainstream bookstores,
bunch
trendy magazines and high-tech world of the Internet,
an alternative publishing world exists quietly in the shadows.
Fanzines are conceived and pieced together in cellars,
in libraries and late at night.
Text Josefin Ekman illustration Daniel Egneus photo Private
24
bunch of amateurs
Long live the fanzine
offered by the Internet, many fanzines
are still produced in bedrooms on shoestring budgets. Their creators aren’t in it
for the money – and indeed often have
to struggle hard to cover their costs. Yet
fanzine culture continues to grow.
Basically, a fanzine is an amateur
magazine produced by dedicated fans
with limited resources and without access to high-tech equipment. Publication
and distribution is generally handled by
the creators themselves. Unlike commercial magazines, fanzines are run not
for profit but out of unswerving love for
their subject.
Science fiction was first
The fanzine phenomenon first emerged
in the 1930s as a forum for science fiction
aficionados. Its models were two pulp
magazines, Amazing Stories and Astounding Science Fiction, which wrote about
science and fiction. Readers got in touch
via the magazines’ letters columns and
founded clubs with magazines of their
own. Initially they called their magazines
fan mags, though this moniker gave way
to the more evocative-sounding fanzine
in the 1940s.
The Comet, launched in 1930 by editor
Ray Palmer, is reckoned to be the first
fanzine. The first US sci-fi fanzine made
it to Sweden in the 1940s; and a decade
later – in 1954 – the first Swedish fanzine,
Cosmo News, was born.
From the outset, fanzine owners used
amateur press associations (APAs) to
distribute their creations. The APA system was founded in the US in the 19th
century by people wanting to distribute
their writings outside the established
channels. It involves every fanzine being
printed and sent to the members of the
particular APA. Other ways of obtaining
fanzines include ordering them directly
from the editor and swapping with someone else.
Do-it-yourself spirit
In the 1950s the fanzine culture spread
to cartoonists, who saw its potential as a
distribution channel for their work. But
not until the emergence of punk rock
music in the mid-1970s did fanzines
make their true breakthrough. One of the
pillars of punk was the idea of creating
your own culture. Most punk bands were
outside the mainstream music industry,
recording their own records and selling them at gigs or in small, alternative
record stores. The bywords were commitment and personal involvement in
the movement rather than professionalism and objectivity. The editor of Sniffin
Glue, one of the first and most legendary
25
S
Despite the almost limitless freedom
punk fanzines, wrote: “All you kids out
there who read Sniffin Glue - don’t satisfy
yourselves with what we write! Go out
and start your own fanzines.”
The advent of the Photostat machine
made publication easier, helping to
spread the fanzine gospel far and wide.
For Jemma Morgan, 19, the main attraction is being able to produce something unique – in your own way. For the
last year she and four friends have edited
and produced the UK monthly art fanzine On The Rag Zine.
“None of us claim to be professionals
and we’re no good at design. But we like
it that way. A bit of chaos and a few spelling mistakes give a personal touch. The
best thing about making your fanzine is
that you’re completely free. I can write
exactly what I want without having to
feel that others have to like it.”
Long-term enthusiast
Dolf Hermannstaedter is the first to
agree that fanzines are the product of
marginalised groups who don’t have a
“A bit of chaos and a few spelling
mistakes give a personal touch.”
Jemma Morgan
26
Increasing niches
The Internet has enabled many fanzines
to go online and reach a wider audience,
where they’re known as webzines or
netzines.
In recent years fanzines have been
booming, moving into areas ranging
from roleplay and handicrafts to football
teams, music styles and poetry. Technological progress has changed their look,
too. From being typewritten – or even
handwritten – they are now produced
using the latest word processing and
design programs. Scanners and digital
cameras have revolutionised the use of
images, and many fanzines today mimic
some of the hallmarks of professional
magazines.
S
Jemma Morgan (left) and Dolf Hermannstaedter
(right) are two genuine fanzine diehards.
voice in the mainstream media. As editor of punk fanzine Trust for 21 years, he
should know.
“In 1986 there was no medium writing
about the music and ideas that I was interested in,” he recalls. “So I got together
with a group of hardcore activists in Heidenheim [Germany] and we decided to
launch a fanzine. There were six of us at
the start, but only Mitch – who does the
design – and I are left now.”
Hermannstaedter spends several
hours a day working on the fanzine,
and his dedication has won him a
monthly readership of more than 3,000
people.
“Our readers are people who won’t
be dictated to by the mainstream media.
When hardcore punk arrived in Germany
in the early 1980s it was a great alternative to mainstream music. These days,
it’s become a marketing tool, just like all
other music. But for me, the ideas behind
hardcore punk apply just as much today
as they did then.”
Trust’s pages draw heavily on band
interviews and music reviews but also
include socio-political coverage, such as
an interview with a former UN soldier
in Afghanistan. For the last decade much
of the content has also been available
online.
Text Luise Steinberger
trends
Ads work best in international
news mags
Companies wanting to strengthen public awareness of
S
their brands should focus on advertising in international
news magazines. So says a study by market research group
ICD Research in Europe for the World Press Group.
Two sets of company advertising were shown to 2,114
people in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland, all of whom earned annual salaries of at least €45,000.
The study showed that 24 per cent of respondents thought
international media were better suited to the company’s image,
while 13 per cent thought the same of national media. The study
also showed that 77 per cent of respondents considered the journalism of the international media to have greater credibility.
The World Press Group is an umbrella organisation for eight of
the world’s leading international publications: The Economist, Financial Times, Fortune, International Herald Tribune, National Geographic,
Newsweek, Time and Wall Street Journal Europe.
Diana in the
archives
Kidnap victim
wins language award
Picture agency Getty Images has bought
S
S
an entire photo archive of Princess Diana. The
so-called Princess Diana Memorial Trust Archive
features photographs taken by the princess’s close
friend Jayne Fincher from the 1980s and up until
Diana’s death in 1997. The collection of over 20,000
pictures – both colour and black and white – will be
kept at the Getty Images Hulton Archive.
Natascha Kampusch, the world-famous Austrian kidnap
victim, has been awarded German magazine Deutsche
Sprachwelt’s “language carer of the year” award. Since 2000,
the award has gone to readers’ choice of a person who has
made a laudable contribution to the German language. One
particular bugbear for both the magazine and the readers is
people who use too much English in their German.
Natascha Kampusch was chosen because she uses very
little English in her pronunciation. During her eight years of
captivity in a cellar she simply missed out on the English invasion of the German language.
27
The call of the woods
Who wants to
own a forest? For Benny Gustafsson in Lycksele,
Sweden, it’s a dream come true. “Owning a wood
is like being a priest. It’s a vocation,” he says.
Text Mats Wigardt PHoto Jörgen Wiklund
The air-filled pine woods can make
anyone feel like wanting to own a piece
of their very own forest. Mature firs,
soft bunches of cowberry bushes, silken
smooth patches of moss.
Benny Gustafsson grew up on a smallholding just outside the town of Lycksele
in north-east Sweden. Always outside
his door, the woods have been a constant
companion.
“When a big piece of woodland came
onto the market my girlfriend and I
made a bid,” he says. They became owners of 405 hectares of forest, along with
a house that was in pretty rough shape,
but which could be renovated.
Safe future
Gustafsson stresses the importance of a
solid background in both financial and
forestry management. He should know,
as mistakes have been made.
“You learn in time,” he reflects. “The
woods grow for 150 years, so there’s
plenty of time to educate yourself.”
The idea of buying more woodland
is attractive, but only if the right deal
turns up. “If you look at things in the
long term, owning forests is never a bad
deal,” he says happily. “It’ll be good in
ten years’ time, even better in 20 and
really great in 30. And it keeps you
healthy!”
S
More fun than shares
There were plenty of trees ready to be
felled, and that helped to pay off part
of the loan. The remaining forests will
secure the family’s future.
“Forestry entails long-term thinking,” Gustafsson explains. “It’s not at all
like stocks and shares where profits – or
losses – come along much quicker. And
forests are more fun to own! Shares are
just pieces of paper and figures.”
His advice for anyone thinking of buying up some wooded land is to hold on
to your money and be prepared to invest
lots of time and hard work. No going out
to buy a new car or snowmobile after
selling some timber before you’ve paid
your taxes – that’s the golden rule. How
much forest you choose to buy depends
on your plans. And the strength of your
interest.
Facts about SCA woods
With its 2.6 million hectares of woodland, SCA is
S
Europe’s largest private forest owner. Two million of those
hectares are productive, which means that they produce
timber and other raw wood products for SCA’s industries in
Sweden. SCA forests are managed according to the strict
rules of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which means
SCA can supply printing paper, pulp, wood products and
pellets that are FSC- certified.
SCA also buys wood from private forest owners in
northern Sweden. These landowners can receive help and
advice from SCA’s experts regarding management and their
prospects for gaining FSC certification themselves.
28

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