Christof Franzen is "Journalist of the Year"
Christof Franzen is «Journalist of the Year.» The SRF filmmaker and longtime Russia correspondent received the highest rating in the traditional «Swiss Journalist» awards and won the main category ahead of Adrienne Fichter (Republik) and SoBli Editor-in-Chief Reza Rafi.
"Franzen lets people tell their stories - even where there is mistrust and words are chosen carefully," says editor-in-chief Marcus Hebein. "When you listen to the people Christof Franzen lets speak, you understand a lot of what is currently moving the world a little better. Perhaps even better than through a long political analysis of the New York Times. It is precisely with work like this that SRF proves what public service can achieve."
Franzen himself says in the interview: "My aim is to listen and understand - even when making critical statements. I'm not interested in arguing people into the ground."
In addition to the main category, voting took place in 14 other categories this year. The category winners 2025:
- Editor of the year: Echo of time
- Editor-in-Chief: Reza Rafi, SonntagsBlick
- Politics: Larissa Rhyn, Tages-Anzeiger
- Column: Philipp Loser, The magazine
- Reporter: Adrienne Fichter, Republic
- Economy: Lucia Theiler
- Company: Rafaela Roth, NZZ on Sunday
- Research: Fabian Eberhard, SonntagsBlick
- Culture: Nora Zukker, Tages-Anzeiger
- Local: Liliane Minor, Tages-Anzeiger
- Sports: Seraina Degen, SRF
- Newcomer: Aylin Erol, Watson
- Audio: Dominik Meier, SRF
- Photo: Dominik Nahr, NZZ
This year's vote was extremely popular: 1,163 people - mainly journalists and employees from the media industry - took part in the online vote. This is the highest number for many years. In addition, around 700 comments were received, mostly praising, but also critical. There was also a change in mode: for the first time, the average of the points awarded decided the ranking, rather than their total.
Susanne Lebrument is Media Manager of the Year
At the end of the year, "Journalist:in" also named the "Media Manager of the Year". This year, the editorial team chose Susanne Lebrument. "She fights like a lioness for her company," was a recurring theme in the research - even from critical quarters. With this award, "Journalist:in" honors a media manager who has shown great commitment to the continued existence of her family business in a difficult environment - sometimes using unusual methods.
