The funniest professional experience
The first impression on the local printed press: “a television in which you remove the color”. Same as the country, the printed press industry changed very much since I first arrived here. “I remember that the first time I came here I had the feeling of a television in which you remove the color. Now it’s a European country, a colorful and nice place. The change was very quick and visible. And in the case of some newspapers it is the same”, says Stephane Carpentier.
Since his arrival in Romania, Carpentier participated in the redesign of newspapers such as Evenimentul Zilei, TV Mania, Unica and Libertatea.
The ‘funniest’ experience was at Libertatea. “The only disappointment that comes to my mind, which is probably not the biggest one but it is surely the funniest, is the one in which we had to launch Libertatea. I felt something strange and I said it to Thomas Landolt (CEO of Ringier Romania) as well. I told him that the staff was not very interested in the event, not even the editor in chief. They should be nervous, delighted, anxious, but they showed no emotion whatsoever. They should be nervous, but they are not. And the next day, the day of the launch, the whole staff resigned. And then, I found myself sitting… I had a relaunch, but no more staff”, says Carpentier.
In 2006, the whole editorial staff headed by Adrian Halpert left Libertatea for Adevarul.
“I had a totally different idea, Carpentier commented. I wanted to be a friendly, helpful newspaper for the readers. But personally, I don’t believe in this type of newspapers. Maybe they are successful for a time. What I tried to do at Libertatea was to make it more understanding, easier to read, with some important topics. But I had very little support from the staff; they didn’t really understand or accept this concept. And when the new editor in chief started to run this newspaper, they did not respect this concept at all and everything headed to another direction”, said Stephane Carpentier.
A project that illustrates what he tried to achieve with Libertatea is Blick am Abend. For this format, Carpentier worked four months.
“It is a free newspaper, published at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, in the German part of Switzerland. With this newspaper I succeeded exactly what I failed to do at Libertatea. The concept is friendly, really helpful for the readers, interesting I hope, and the last page contains good news. No sex, no crimes. So, the result was fantastic, from 240,000 when we redesigned it, in the next year we gained 66,000 more. So it was a sign that this concept works very well, at least in Switzerland”, says Carpentier.
After 11 years with Ringier, Stephane Carpentier returns to Edipresse Switzerland.
“11 years at Ringier, but first I worked 19 in Edipresse. I only know these two media groups. So, I can only tell you the difference. In Edipress I had the feeling of discipline, structure, things were planned in advance. It was good, but at the same time it took more time to achieve. At Ringier, it was a bit more rock&roll, but it had its both positive and negative aspects. It can be stressful sometimes, but you can move faster and be more creative”.
Since his arrival in Romania, Carpentier participated in the redesign of newspapers such as Evenimentul Zilei, TV Mania, Unica and Libertatea.
The ‘funniest’ experience was at Libertatea. “The only disappointment that comes to my mind, which is probably not the biggest one but it is surely the funniest, is the one in which we had to launch Libertatea. I felt something strange and I said it to Thomas Landolt (CEO of Ringier Romania) as well. I told him that the staff was not very interested in the event, not even the editor in chief. They should be nervous, delighted, anxious, but they showed no emotion whatsoever. They should be nervous, but they are not. And the next day, the day of the launch, the whole staff resigned. And then, I found myself sitting… I had a relaunch, but no more staff”, says Carpentier.
In 2006, the whole editorial staff headed by Adrian Halpert left Libertatea for Adevarul.
“I had a totally different idea, Carpentier commented. I wanted to be a friendly, helpful newspaper for the readers. But personally, I don’t believe in this type of newspapers. Maybe they are successful for a time. What I tried to do at Libertatea was to make it more understanding, easier to read, with some important topics. But I had very little support from the staff; they didn’t really understand or accept this concept. And when the new editor in chief started to run this newspaper, they did not respect this concept at all and everything headed to another direction”, said Stephane Carpentier.
A project that illustrates what he tried to achieve with Libertatea is Blick am Abend. For this format, Carpentier worked four months.
“It is a free newspaper, published at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, in the German part of Switzerland. With this newspaper I succeeded exactly what I failed to do at Libertatea. The concept is friendly, really helpful for the readers, interesting I hope, and the last page contains good news. No sex, no crimes. So, the result was fantastic, from 240,000 when we redesigned it, in the next year we gained 66,000 more. So it was a sign that this concept works very well, at least in Switzerland”, says Carpentier.
After 11 years with Ringier, Stephane Carpentier returns to Edipresse Switzerland.
“11 years at Ringier, but first I worked 19 in Edipresse. I only know these two media groups. So, I can only tell you the difference. In Edipress I had the feeling of discipline, structure, things were planned in advance. It was good, but at the same time it took more time to achieve. At Ringier, it was a bit more rock&roll, but it had its both positive and negative aspects. It can be stressful sometimes, but you can move faster and be more creative”.