Linda von Euw, Constantin Katsoulis, Andrea Piqué (from left)
Editor-in-chief Gregor Waser has been supported editorially by Linda von Euw since mid-November. The qualified journalist is one of the founding members of the online culture platform bäckstage.ch, has gained practical experience in various print and online media and completed an internship as a video journalist at N-TV. Together with her sister, the 31-year-old also runs NaTour, a travel agency specializing in detox trips. The editorial team will also be able to draw on the expertise of more than ten freelancers in the future.
The four founders Vanessa Bay, Gianni Moccetti, Raphaël Surber and Gregor Waser are delighted that the mixture of well-researched analyses, news and video contributions has immediately been well received by the travel industry and tourism enthusiasts. At the same time, they are aware that there is still a lot to do. Following the recent launch of the English corner and the new "Trips & People" section, the next step is the launch of a job platform. In addition, content will also be offered in French in 2016.
At the Quebec City Magic Festival, spectators are enchanted. For last year's edition in September, the agency Lg2 designed an ambient campaign that could not have communicated more aptly what visitors could expect - and why they should go. Not to mention the free tickets that were given to the "victims". Amazing - for the fact that it couldn't work any other way, the men look amazingly similar. Nice idea. (hae)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_F5oparRQs
Guests wanted from all over the world
With a call in 17 countries last November, people were invited to apply for a unique trip where they can get to know our beautiful country with local experts. From the most creative applications of a country, the winners per country were chosen by means of public voting on social media channels and a jury, who get to travel to Switzerland with their family, friends or partners.
Swiss hosts wanted
Since January 4, Switzerland is now looking for cosmopolitan hosts who would like to show their personal Switzerland to the guests. This gives the international guests the opportunity to see interesting sights, unique traditions and breathtaking landscapes. They also get a personal and direct insight into Swiss culture and everyday life. As a thank-you for their hospitality, the hosts can win up to four Swiss flights to a destination of their choice, including travel money.
In March 2016, the meeting of guests and hosts will take place in Switzerland. Swiss invites all guests and hosts to a unique welcome event, where many Swiss highlights await the guests and SWISS employees will also participate. Afterwards, the Swiss hosts will show their guests their personal Switzerland during two days.
As a hub for the competition, Publicis collaborated with Swiss to design a competition microsite as a platform where people can apply as guests or hosts and also vote for the participants within the public voting. Unic, one of Europe's leading providers of integrated e-business solutions, was chosen for the technical implementation and operation of the powerful and visually appealing microsite.
Great moments in film
Once again, the most beautiful and exciting encounters of this unique journey through Switzerland are to be captured in an emotional film. So that viewers can see how SWISS brings people and cultures together. From the end of April 2016, these scenes will also be posted on the competition website Swiss.com/welcome to be seen.
Responsible at Swiss: Judith Schulte (Head of Marketing Communication Campaigns), Cornelia Späth, Tanja Rüeger, Chan-Kim Sean, Rebekka Hofstetter, Julius Klaus (Marketing Communications Campaigns), Selina Truttmann, Marie-Louise Marti (Event Management), Nadja Griehl, Benjamin Fehrenbach (Social Media Marketing). Responsible at Publicis: Thomas Wildberger (CCO), Daniel Ahrens, Wim Roelfs, Urs Schrepfer (Creative Direction), Christian Schirmer, Regine Cavicchioli, Norihito Iida, Edoardo Moruzzi (Creation), Candido Righetto, Lena Jaggi, Sandra Zottl (Consulting), Simon Grasser, Flavio Muff, Andy Günter, Massimo Giannotta (Digital Development), Marco Christen (Services). Responsible at Unic: Constantin Ettingshausen (Senior Account Manager), John Alonso (Senior Project Manager), Peter Rauber (Senior Application Architect), Florian Süsstrunk (Frontend Engineer)
The Swiss Photo Academy includes 1'000 personalities from culture, politics and photography, primarily Swiss photographers. The award ceremony took place on Friday during Photo16 in Zurich.
A top-class jury of experts led by jury president Res Strehle - the recently retired editor-in-chief of the Tages-Anzeiger has been serving as the new president of the Swiss School of Journalism MAZ since the beginning of the year - had made a preliminary selection for the 2015 Photographer of the Year Award, which was presented for the second time this year. Nominated were the photographer duo Nico Krebs and Taiyo Onorato, Pascal Mora, Anne Morgenstern, Flurina Rothenberger and Meinrad Schade.
Finally, the 1000-strong Swiss Photo Academy chose Pascal Mora as Photographer of the Year. Born in Aargau - Mora grew up in Neuenhof - he turned to photography after his initial training as a recording salesman. He acquired his photographic skills autodidactically and then worked as an assistant in the photo studio of the women's magazine Annabelle. Since 2006, the 32-year-old has been working as a freelance photographer and lives in Zurich. His focus is on reportage and portrait photography. Since 2011 he has been documenting the aftermath of the Arab Spring, living in Cairo and traveling to crisis areas such as Syria and Libya, among others. In 2015, one of his main focuses was the refugee crisis in Europe. Then, on May 27, 2015, the photojournalist took the picture that today is a symbol of Fifa's disintegration. Mora was the only one to capture the arrest of seven Fifa officials at Zurich's luxury Baur au Lac hotel. Mora took the picture on behalf of the New York Times.
Lifetime Award for Robert Frank
With the Lifetime Award, the jury of the Swiss Photo Academy also honors the life's work of the 91-year-old "American from Zurich" (Tagesanzeiger) Robert Frank. Born in Zurich in 1924, Frank sought his fortune in the United States toward the end of World War II. He was to become world famous and his 1959 book "The Americans" a standard work of photography. The living legend is considered "the most famous photographer in the world" (Das Magazin).
The two winners, Pascal Mora and Robert Frank, were honored during the award ceremony at the photo16 exhibition. Photo16 also shows pictures of the winners as well as of the four nominees in a special exhibition. With 150 exhibitors and an expected number of over 25,000 visitors, Photo16 is by far the largest and most important photography exhibition in Switzerland and will take place from Friday, January 8 to Tuesday, January 12, 2016 in five industrial halls of the Maag in Zurich.
They waved Polish and EU flags and chanted: "Free media, free Poland!" EU Parliament President Martin Schulz accused Warsaw of wanting to establish a "controlled democracy" based on the Russian model. The Committee for the Defense of Democracy (KOD) had called for the demonstrations. The demonstrators called for "democratic media" and shouted slogans against the government. "I still remember communism, propaganda and censorship - and I don't want my grandchildren to have to experience that," said 51-year-old protester Jacek Kisielewski in Warsaw. "Today they want to control the public media, tomorrow the private media and finally the entire state," criticized 45-year-old Ewa Stanislawska.
Media controlled by the state
The new media law places Poland's public broadcasters under de facto government control. The Polish parliament passed the law in a fast-track procedure at the turn of the year and it was signed by President Andrzej Duda on Thursday. The national-conservative majority had previously pushed through a law to indirectly disempower the Constitutional Court. Prime Minister Beata Szydlo's government is currently being heavily criticized in the EU for these measures. Schulz accused the government in Warsaw of violating democratic principles. "The Polish government sees its election victory as a mandate to subordinate the welfare of the state to the will of the winning party, in terms of content and personnel," he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
EU initiates review
The newspaper also reported that there is agreement within the EU Commission to initiate an in-depth investigation into the rule of law in Poland. According to the report, Vice Commission President Frans Timmermans is to lead the investigation - a preliminary step towards a procedure to ensure compliance with the rule of law in the member states. The Commission will discuss the situation of the rule of law in Poland on Wednesday. (SDA)
Fritschi died on Friday after a brief hospital stay in Wetzikon, Zurich, according to Christian Brändli, editor-in-chief of the Zürcher Oberländer, citing reports from NZZ Online and ZO-Online confirmed. A historian with a doctorate, he was elected to the editorial board in 1972 as a career changer. He led the Zürcher Oberländer for 32 years and subsequently served on the board of directors of Zürcher Oberland Medien until 2009. During his tenure as editor-in-chief, Fritschi expanded the newspaper from a local-regional paper focused on the Hinwil district into a medium-sized regional newspaper serving the three districts of the Zürcher Oberland. Circulation rose from 17,000 to 44,000 copies. However, Fritschi was active not only as a journalist but also as a politician. From 1986 to 1992, he served as president of the FDP of the Canton of Zurich, and he also served briefly in the Zurich Cantonal Council. In November 1991, Fritschi was elected to the National Council, where he served on the Security Policy, State Policy, and Editorial Committees. He did not seek re-election in 1999. (SDA)
Image: Parlament.ch
Köppel was also invited several times to Schawinski's TV talk show "Schawinski" for a kind of TV version of "Roger vs Roger". As SRF announced on Friday, there will be a new edition of the show next Monday. However, the discussion will not focus on general topics, but on Köppel's role in the SVP and the future of the party in general. Köppel was elected to the National Council in October with the best election result in Swiss history and, in his dual role as editor-in-chief and publisher of Weltwoche, has been a source of discussion and criticism within the party ever since. (hae)
The publication is actually distributed free of charge to all Davos residents. Because many residents are bothered by the partly racist content and do not want to have the magazine delivered, the According to 20 minutes even printed and distributed specific mailbox stickers. As the news portal writes, these had worked for years - but had become ineffective due to a change in delivery practice on the part of Swiss Post, and the newspaper once again landed in every mailbox. Complaints to customer service are answered with reasons such as "official publication organ" or "general need for information".
However, Swiss Post denies having changed its delivery practice; the Gipfel-Zytig stickers are taken into account - in contrast to the stop-advertising stickers, as publications with a certain editorial content are not treated as advertising, according to a spokeswoman. In addition, it is possible to contact the publisher responsible and have oneself put on a negative list - which in turn bothers the Gipfel-Zytig opponents, as they do not want to unsubscribe from a non-subscribing newspaper.
The Gipfel-Zytig has attracted attention several times in the past due to racist content. For this reason, the paper was suspended twice in 2013 (Werbewoche.ch reported in the January and in the October) was reprimanded by the Press Council. In the same year, publisher Heinz Schneider was sentenced by the Graubünden public prosecutor's office to a conditional fine with a probationary period of two years for racial discrimination. At present, proceedings are underway again - again for racial discrimination. After the end of the probationary period, Schneider, for example, published a "joke" last October in which a man demands money for his dog at the social welfare office - on the grounds that the dog is black, lazy, stinks, has never worked a day in his life and does not speak a word of German. A publication, for which Schneider apologizes today - the "mistake" had happened under time pressure. IG Offenes Davos filed a complaint in November with the Press Council on the grounds of of numerous contributions again filed a complaint - including the dog "joke".
Schneider, who was married to an African woman for 25 years, denies being a racist - he is merely reporting objectively on what is still to come for Switzerland in terms of asylum policy, the publisher told 20 Minuten. Next week, he plans to sit down with Swiss Post to discuss the problem of unwanted deliveries.
Incidentally, Schneider has received a lot of encouragement - as well as numerous critical votes - in the comments on 20min.ch. One user, for example, who calls himself an "art connoisseur and bon vivant," considers the slogans to be "good satire. "Lieselotte Liebmob" feels "reminded of the times when books or witches were publicly burned" - and "störefried" thinks that one should "not immediately call for racism", because it has been scientifically proven that the "vaporization" is "more intense" in "some" people. (hae)
Please note our current Survey (right).
Image: IG Open Davos via 20minuten.ch
Today, Switzerland's media center is even more globalized than the financial center, writes Roger de Weck in an Letter to the publisherswhich NZZ Online made public on Friday evening. Big players like Google and Facebook are putting SRG and publishers under pressure. Against this background, cooperation is the order of the day. The new advertising platform of Ringier, Swisscom and SRG, which has been heavily criticized by many publishers, is open to all interested parties, de Weck emphasized again in his letter. In addition, SRG is making eleven offers to publishers for cooperation in journalism and technology.
Video and sports offer
SRG is prepared to make current videos available to publishers, either in the publisher's Internet player or embedded in the publisher's websites and playable in the SRG player. SRG participates in the advertising revenue that the publisher generates with the videos. A pilot project of this kind has been promising. In sports, SRG is prepared to cooperate with publishers in Formula 1, athletics, indoor sports and tennis. For example, SRG is offering private TV channels to broadcast half of the twenty Formula 1 races if SRG is awarded the contract again. Regional broadcasters could also get involved in cup and championship games of major indoor sports such as basketball or floorball, which are to be broadcast live on the web.
Cooperation in training
SRG sees another field for cooperation in education, interactive television and SwissTXT. Furthermore, private broadcasters are to be given the opportunity to distribute content on SRG's web player. This would increase the presence, as 20 million contributions per month are accessed via "Play SRF" on the Internet. Joint apps, a jointly usable multilingual Swiss Channel on YouTube, easier use of digital broadcasting (DAB+), SRG news bulletins for regional radio stations and supraregional windows for regional television are other areas in which SRG is open to cooperation. With its cooperation offers, SRG wants to do its part to strengthen the four-language Swiss media center in international competition. It has shown in existing cooperations in the film and music industry that solutions are possible in which it is right for all partners.
Publishers react cautiously
Why should this not also be possible with interested publishers, says de Weck. The publishers, for their part, reacted cautiously to de Weck's proposals. They contain little that is new, said publisher president Hanspeter Lebrument in response to an inquiry from the SDA news agency. The proposals are very vague. Lebrument described SRG Director General de Weck's approach as strange and peculiar. The move comes just days before the Epiphany meeting of the Swiss Media Association, the lobby group for Swiss publishers. (SDA)
Roger de Weck could offer publishers a lifetime supply of St. Honoré cakes, they would only recognize it as an attempt at poisoning.
- Daniel Menna (@MadMenNa) January 8, 2016
Accurate analysis and concrete initiative by de Weck. Not all eleven equally relevant, but good ideas included. https://t.co/Muz5tozZMn
- Peter Hogenkamp (@phogenkamp) January 8, 2016
Anyone who does not react with interest to this coopetition offer from SRG to the publishers is a hypocrite. @WakeR https://t.co/1CVj6aq8q3
- Vinzenz Wyss (@VinzenzWyss) January 8, 2016
Let the peace pipe circle: @SRF GD deWeck. An offer you can't refuse? https://t.co/bJnGT47uTm @NZZSwitzerland
- Jean-Marc Hensch (@sosicles) January 9, 2016
Vigousse does not spare provocations in the magazine either. Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter is illustrated as Napoleon, Finance Minister Ueli Maurer as a superhero, and a travelogue raves about Turkmenistan as a "paradise on earth. An alliance between Switzerland and Russian President Vladimir Putin is also enthusiastically celebrated. The 16-page issue is dedicated to freedom of the press, a principle that is sometimes difficult to understand in countries like Switzerland, Vigousse editor-in-chief Stéphane Babey told the media in Lausanne on Friday. It was inspired by everything that is reality in a dictatorship, Babey said. Only the editorial reveals the otherwise fictional publication about Switzerland. The booklet will be enclosed with the French-speaking Swiss newspaper Le Matin Dimanche on Sunday.
25 years Reporters without Borders Switzerland
"It is a rather special, and to our knowledge, unique project," said Gérard Tschopp, president of Reporters Without Borders Switzerland. The publication comes on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Reporters Without Borders in Switzerland. The human rights organization has been fighting for press freedom since its founding. It stands up for journalists who have been imprisoned or even killed because of their articles or pictures and opposes censorship. (SDA)