More than the sum of its parts

As titles like Gazeta Wyborcza, Dziennik and Rzeczpospolita battle for readership in the daily broadsheet market, a new source of competition has appeared on the horizon. Polskapresse Publishing Group, a part of the German Verlagsgruppe Passau group, is set to launch a new national daily in the autumn. Although no publishing date or title have been revealed, the paper is in the final stages of preparation.

Polskapresse already has experience in the Polish newspaper market, with the publication of several regional dailies and weekly classifieds under its belt. It has also maintained internet portals of various kinds and runs a press agency providing regional news.

Polskapresse expects to benefit from its strong position in the regions and the fact that its new daily will have local editions. "This will give us an advantage over other national papers, all of whom adopted the perspective of Warsaw," said Tomasz Wróblewski, the firm's vice president.

"Meanwhile, points of view vary considerably in particular regions in Poland," he added.

Still, the new paper aims to offer a dash of worldly flavor too, thanks to such moves as the signing of a syndication agreement with The Times in Britain. "The Times is synonymous with the changes that have been taking place in Europe and in the media recently," explained Wróblewski.

Polskapresse's new paper also aspires to be an opinion-shaper, yet its owner claims that its ideological bent will be slight. "The Polish media, with their left-right disputes, are part of a previous era. We appeal to the concerns of ordinary people," said Wróblewski.

Although the new contender aspires to take the lead in the market, doubts remain. According to Paweł Bujak, the director of the press department at CR Media, the paper will only succeed if it has a clear target demographic and is distinct from other players. Still, he thinks relying on the regional press is a bad idea.

"The motivations for reading a national and a regional paper are different," he said, adding the caveat that experience with regional advertisers may be useful at the time of the new daily's launch.

Its competition is still keeping a close eye on it.