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Vienna/ Passau (pte036/24.06.2003/17:17) - Following an initiative by the Passau Neue Presse (PNP) http://www.pnp.de , 13 German newspapers have launched a protest against the price policy of German news agency dpa (Deutsche Presse Agentur).
On 25 June the media organs plan to boycott dpa's services for an entire day. Their aim is to persuade dpa to adjust its prices to the current tough economic situation on the print media market. The newspaper heads say dpa should review its policy and acknowledge that the print media are in their most difficult situation since 1945.
"The dpa will have to adopt a more realistic market policy," said Michael Backhaus, chief editor of PNP in an interview with pressetext.europe.
The 13 papers are demanding more flexible offers. They also want to show that they are not as dependent on dpa services as they used to be.
"The nimbus of irreplaceability doesn't exist in the age of the Internet," said Backhaus.
In German-speaking countries more and more regional papers have become members of the RZP newspaper portal, where they can exchange news and photos amongst each other.
The papers are urging dpa to rethink and discuss its price policy at the dpa annual shareholders meeting tomorrow, Wednesday. They have cautioned that dpa could suffer in the future if it does not change its approach.
Most print media have a five-year contract with dpa, which they are saying they will consider carefully before they renew. They are especially outraged over the 20,000-euro monthly fee for dpa's basic services, which includes regional news that many papers do not need. Instead, media heads are demanding a system such as that used by ddp, which only bills services used.
The following media are taking part in the boycott: Westdeutsche Allgemeine, Mittelbayrische Zeitung, Münchner Merkur, Sächsische Zeitung Dresden, Westdeutsche Zeitung Düsseldorf, Westfälische Nachrichten Münster, Märkische Allgemeine Potsdam, Schweriner Volkszeitung, Hessisch-Niedersächsische Allgemeine (HNA) Kassel, Volksstimme Magdeburg, Ostsee Zeitung Rostock und der Nordkurier.
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