西方报业危机蔓延

Germany’s newspaper crisis has led to the birth of a new compound noun: Zeitungssterben, newspaper death. The announcement by G+J, the magazine division of Bertelsmann, that it will close Financial Times Deutschland and the bankruptcy filing of the Frankfurter Rundschau have led to much soul-searching.

德国的报业危机催生了一个新的复合名词：Zeitungssterben——报纸之死。贝塔斯曼(Bertelsmann)的杂志部门G+J宣布将停办《德国金融时报》(Financial Times Deutschland)以及《法兰克福评论报》(Frankfurter Rundschau)申请破产这两件事发人深剩

Even chancellor Angela Merkel offered her condolences, calling on the sector to keep its spirits up. “I think print media are very important, she said on her weekly web post. But her officials note that what Germany is seeing is not unique. While the country looks set to lose two quality dailies, in Spain editorial staff are being slashed, and in Italy speculation about possible newspaper mergers comes and goes.

就连德国总理安格拉·默克尔(Angela Merkel)也致以同情之意，呼吁报业振作起来。“我认为纸媒十分重要，她在每周一期的网络公告中写道。但德国官员称，报业惨淡并非德国所独有。在德国注定将失去两家优秀日报之际，西班牙正在裁撤编辑人员，意大利也不时传出报纸合并的猜测。

Smaller titles serving smaller markets mean individual newspaper crises may not have the scale or the drama of those in the US where, for example, the Tribune Company, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, filed for bankruptcy in 2008 just a year after Sam Zell led a $8.2bn leveraged buyout of the company.

由于报纸本身规模和所服务市场都较小，一家欧洲报纸发生危机时不会像美国同类事件那样影响深远、充满戏剧性。比如说，《芝加哥论坛报》(Chicago Tribune)的出版商Tribune公司于2008年申请破产，而就在一年前，山姆·泽尔(Sam Zell)才花费82亿美元对该公司实施了杠杆收购。

“But the newspaper crisis is happening in all developed countries in the western world, says Douglas McCabe at Enders Research, a London media consultancy. “Although it is fair to say that some countries are getting hit later than others.

“但报业危机正在所有西方发达国家蔓延，伦敦媒体咨询机构Enders Research的道格拉斯·麦凯布(Douglas McCabe)说，“尽管各国受到冲击的时间确实存在先后差别。

While feeling the effects of the internet, German print publishers were long insulated more than peers in other countries, he says. “Germany is decentralised; it’s not as online as, for example, the UK. The penetration of mobile devices isn’t as big, and it has traditionally seen a greater reliance on newspaper subscriptions.

他表示，尽管已经感受到互联网的影响，但德国纸媒的闭关自守却超过了其他国家的同行：“德国纸媒市场较为分散，其网络化程度不及英国等国家。移动设备普及率较低，报业历来较为依赖报纸订阅。

The German newspaper publishers’ association says total daily sales fell by about 17 per cent to 21.1m copies between 2005 and 2012. In a period when some UK quality newspapers saw circulation drop by 40 or even 50 per cent, copy sales at the august Frankfurter Allgemeine declined 5 per cent to 355,000 a day.

德国报纸出版商协会表示，2012年报纸总销量为2110万份，较2005年下降17%左右。在一些英国优质报纸发行量下降40%乃至50%的同时，8月份《法兰克福汇报》(Frankfurter Allgemeine)的日发行量仍有35.5万份，仅下降5%。

But this could not shield the papers from a drop in advertising sales, which started as advertisers began to switch to the web at the start of the millennium and accelerated after the global and eurozone crises in 2008.

但这并不能阻止报纸广告收入的下滑。这种下滑在世纪之初广告客户开始转向网络端时便已初见端倪，并随着2008年的全球危机和欧元区危机而加剧。

Germany’s advertising association believes dailies took €3.6bn from ads in 2011, down 45 per cent from 12 years ago.

德国广告业协会表示，日报行业2011年的广告收入为36亿欧元，较12年前下降45%。

This finished off Financial Times Deutschland – which has been wholly owned by G+J since 2008, when Pearson, owner of the FT, sold its half-stake – and the Frankfurter Rundschau, which filed for bankruptcy in the middle of November.

这导致了《德国金融时报》——自2008年英国《金融时报》所有者培生集团(Pearson)出售了一半股权以来，该报为G+J全资所有——和《法兰克福评论报》的覆灭。《法兰克福评论报》已于11月中旬申请破产。

Europe’s largest economy was finally witnessing what its neighbours had already seen. France-Soir, France’s populist newspaper, closed its print edition last December and its online edition stopped this summer after bankruptcy. In January, La Tribune, the financial daily, also dropped its print edition to go web-only.

欧洲最大经济体终于体会到了邻国已经遭遇的经历。法国民粹派报纸《法国晚报》(France-Soir)于去年12月停止发行印刷版，并在宣布破产之后于今年夏天关闭网络版。今年1月，财经日报《论坛报》(La Tribune)也放弃了印刷版，改为纯网络版。

Spain has seen dozens of print publications close since the economic crisis began four years ago, and strains are now showing at the top of the industry. El País, one of the country’s most popular newspapers, wants to cut about one-third of its 460 jobs.

自从4年前经济危机爆发以来，西班牙已有多家纸媒刊物停刊。如今高端领域也开始面临压力，西班牙最受欢迎的报纸之一——《国家报》(El País)就打算把460名员工裁掉三分之一左右。

The downturn has spurred speculation of mergers in Italy, the most notable of which could be a combination of RCS Mediagroup’s publications – Corriere della Sera and Gazzetta dello Sport – and la Stampa, owned by the Agnelli -family.

报业低迷在意大利引发种种合并猜测，其中最引人注目的是RCS Mediagroup旗下的《晚邮报》(Corriere della Sera)和《米兰体育报》(Gazzetta dello Sport)可能与阿涅利(Agnelli)家族的《资讯报》(La Stampa)合并的事情。

People at the publications, however, deny there is anything in the talk.

但这几家报刊均否认正在进行合并谈判。

The gloomy truth for the industry is that there will be more casualties, says Claudio Aspesi, an analyst at Bernstein Research in London.

伯恩斯坦研究公司(Bernstein Research)驻伦敦分析师克劳迪奥·阿斯佩西(Claudio Aspesi)认为，报业必须面对更多报纸将关门停业的惨淡现实。

“There are probably only a handful of print titles that will be able to develop sustainable business models – these will probably be the big, international brands like the Financial Times or the New York Times, he says.

他说，“或许只有少数纸媒能够开拓出可持续的商业模式——可能是那些大型的国际品牌，如英国《金融时报》和美国《纽约时报》(New York Times)。

“The others will have to find themselves an oligarch, or find shelter as part of a bigger organisation.

“其他纸媒必须找到寡头老板，或是寻求大企业的庇护。

That would mirror the French, Italian and UK models of rich owners buying into media as much for influence as profit: Les échos, the financial daily, is owned by LVMH, the luxury goods group controlled by Bernard Arnault; Le Monde, France’s most prestigious title, was saved by left-leaning businessmen; Le Figaro, the highest-circulation daily with 307,000 copies, is owned by Dassault, the defence group.

这就如同存在于法国、意大利和英国的一种模式：富豪收购媒体，实现影响力与利润双收。财经日报《回声报》(Les échos)的所有者是伯纳德·阿尔诺(Bernard Arnault)控股的奢侈品集团路威酩轩(LVMH)；法国最有名的《世界报》(Le Monde)被左倾商人出手拯救；发行量最大（30.7万份）的日报《费加罗报》(Le Figaro)为国防集团达索(Dassault)拥有。

The Frankfurter Rundschau is still hoping for an investor to pluck it from insolvency. But Financial Times Deutschland’s search failed. Owning a newspaper for “non-economic reasons does not appear to be a German foible, Mr Aspesi says. “It would seem even German billionaires are more frugal than billionaires elsewhere.

《法兰克福评论报》仍希望有投资者挺身而出，将其从破产边缘解救回来。《德国金融时报》的寻觅已经失败。阿斯佩西说，德国人似乎不会为了“非经济原因而拥有一家报纸。他说：“似乎连德国的亿万富翁都比其他地方的亿万富翁更节俭。

Reporting by Gerrit Wiesmann, Jan Cienski, Rachel Sanderson and Scheherazade Daneshkhu