Raising the press-ure

Passauer Neue Presse is expected to invest close to zł.100 million on the launch of a national newspaper later this year by its subsidiary Polskapresse, according to Polish daily Gazeta Prawna. The publisher plans to base its new title on its own network of eight local dailies, with combined weekly sales of 2.8 million copies. Polskapresse is reportedly also hoping to forge a partnership with Rzeczpospolita to add its 12 local papers to the project.

The new daily is intended as an alternative to Gazeta Wyborcza - the country's second-largest daily. Wyborcza's network of regional editions is widely considered the Polish publisher's last foothold in the market after the group took a beating last year from another German group, Axel Springer, publisher of Fakt and Dziennik.

The paper's future managing editor, Paweł Fšfara, is confident that the project will do well, declaring that the paper will provide "rich local and regional service." He expects Polskapresse's local papers to benefit from the presence of the national daily as well. "Our main advantage is our enormous strength in so many regions," said Fšfara. (Reuters)