16 jobs at Radio and Television of Italian-speaking Switzerland (RSI) are being put to the test to save money. From January 1, 2010, the entertainment program "La Tele", among others, will be axed. The production of in-house films and series will also be reduced. RSI Director Dino Balestra defended these cost-cutting measures amounting to around ten million francs to the media in Lugano on Monday. It is nothing out of the ordinary, he said. Even in previous years, it had not been possible to meet all the wishes of the program managers when planning the budget.
Other jobs within the company will be sought for the employees affected by the discontinued broadcasting channels. According to Balestra, redundancies should be avoided. He also rejected the accusation that those responsible at RSI had an "ill-considered, authoritarian and irresponsible management style", as the Syndikat Medienschaffender (SSM) wrote last week. Balestra attributed the dissatisfaction and annoyance of the employees to the changes in the media industry with the constantly changing demands on journalists.

No savings on the logo
Balestra also did not let the accusation of wasteful use of fee money go unchallenged. For example, the introduction of a new logo was unavoidable due to the convergence project. Radiotelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana changed its abbreviation from RTSI to RSI. The SRG subsidiaries in German-speaking Switzerland and French-speaking Switzerland will also soon have a new logo.

The national advertising campaign for Das Magazin, which has been in use since the beginning of the year, has been expanded in recent months to include a series of new motifs. JWT+H+F developed subjects that primarily communicate the positioning and quality of the magazine, which is now almost 40 years old. Others advertise special issues, such as the special editions on topics like cars or fashion. Further advertisements will follow on an ongoing basis.

Responsible at Das Magazin: Thomas Estermann (Publishing Director), Finn Canonica Editor-in-Chief), Oliver Burger (Area Sales Manager). Responsible at JWT+H+F: Remy Fabrikant (overall responsibility), Enrico Bachmann (CD), Reto Baumann, Jennifer Rimann (consulting), Enrico Bachmann, Mathias Bart (text), Grischa Rubinick ( AD), Mischa Annen, Victoria Iwaszkowska (graphics/DTP).

The Basel advertising agency Favo is entering a new era. The communications company, founded in 1981, is now trading under the name Scholz & Friends Basel. The name change reflects the successful collaboration with Scholz & Friends since the beginning of 2009, the advertising agency writes in a press release on Monday. However, the integration into an international agency network means above all a huge increase in expertise and know-how, which opens up new perspectives for Swiss clients and employees. Under the name Favo, the agency has realized campaigns for UBS, Hotelplan, FC Basel, Glückspost and Ramstein Optik, among others.

Caption: It's easy to say goodbye: Hinrik Wachsmuth, CEO of Scholz & Friends Basel, stands in public for the last time with the name Favo.

A team of journalists led by Marco Travaglio, a critic of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, is defying the crisis in the media industry. They have founded a new daily newspaper. Il Fatto (The Event) will be published daily from Wednesday. The editor-in-chief is journalist Antonio Padellaro, who had already headed the left-wing daily L'Unita. He will be joined by the former editor-in-chief of L'Unita, Furio Colombo, and the journalists Travaglio and Pietro Gomez.
Travaglio has become a bestselling author in Italy with his books and articles against Berlusconi's conflicts of interest. 28,000 readers have already subscribed to Il Fatto. The 16-page paper is published six days a week and costs 1.2 euros. The paper also wants to devote special attention to the Internet. One page a day will be devoted to the development of the web.
"At a time when the Italian media are under pressure from Berlusconi, journalists who believe in media freedom are responding with a concrete initiative. We want to be a fierce opposition to the prime minister," said editor-in-chief Padellaro.

Nicole Wenger-Schubiger joined the agency management of the marketing and communications agency Tangram as a strategy consultant in mid-September 2009. She previously worked as a strategy consultant at a branding agency in Zurich. Nicole Wenger-Schubiger studied business administration at the University of St. Gallen (HSG). Her professional career took her to the Institute for Marketing and Commerce at the University of St. Gallen, Competence Center for Brand Management, where she carried out various brand management projects and wrote several publications on the subject of corporate brand management.

Following the decision of the Federal Administrative Court, the private radio station Energy Zürich (NRJ) is definitely without an FM broadcasting license. Federal Councillor Moritz Leuenberger considers the solution sought by the broadcaster with a transitional license to be difficult. An additional FM frequency, which would enable a seamless transition to digital broadcasting via DAB+, would be associated with the greatest legal and technical difficulties, said Leuenberger in an interview with the commuter newspaper News on Monday. However, if Energy has a proposal, it will be examined.
As Leuenberger, Head of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC), went on to explain, someone would have to give up a frequency. However, this would again affect the rights of other licensed radio stations. These could take legal action. Leuenberger rejected the accusation that he was the gravedigger of Radio Energy by referring to the revised Radio and TV Act. Parliament had stipulated that the limited frequencies were to be distributed according to predetermined rules. Roger Schawinski's Radio 1 had benefited from this.

(Image: Keystone)

The Zurich Vocational Training Foundation (BVZ) works with 140 training companies to train apprentices in the city and region of Zurich. In order to support the foundation's activities online, Nemuk has created a completely new website. The content is aimed at both the training companies and the apprentices themselves. In addition to the website, a newsletter is planned for the near future, which will also be realized and managed by the Zurich online marketing agency.

The Graubünden-based private broadcaster Tele Südostschweiz has launched a new youth program. The 16-minute program called "Trash" will be broadcast for the first time on Thursday and will initially be shown once a month, later every two weeks. The program is conceived and produced by students on the Multimedia Production course at the University of Applied Sciences (HTW) in Chur. Politically not always entirely correct, the show by young people for young people offers entertainment and information with a special focus on the region of south-eastern Switzerland, the HTW announced on Monday.

The "Equality makes it possible" campaign was launched on Monday. It was realized by CR Kommunikation on behalf of the City of Zurich's Office for Gender Equality. The poster campaign does not aim to define the concept of equality in terms of political or social deficits, but to associate it with a positive message. The subjects show that equality has created a multitude of new opportunities for men and women to shape their lives: Men do not necessarily have to take on the role of main breadwinner, women can pursue careers, fathers are involved in childcare, the range of career choices is not limited by gender stereotypes, partnerships are not shaped by fixed ideas of gender roles. The poster campaign is displayed in the city of Zurich.

The creative minds at Weber Harbeke Partners have staged the largest casting in Switzerland for Migros. This unusual way of selecting apprenticeships is intended to publicize the advantages and requirements of basic training at the orange giant. The casting will appear under the name "New Talents", with its own logo and a consistent corporate design. From now on, advertisements throughout Switzerland will appear on store posters, in the Internet and a brochure looking for new talent.
Every year, over 1,000 young people start their careers with the Migros Group - in sales outlets and in industrial and service companies such as Jowa, Hotelplan and Denner. More than 40 professions can be learned, from meat specialist to businesswoman to poultry farmer.

Responsible at the Federation of Migros Cooperatives, Zurich: Edith Rutschmann (Head of Vocational Training Coordination at the Migros Group). Responsible at Weber Harbeke Partners, Zurich: Max Weber, Thomas Harbeke (CD), Christian Sidow (text), Alexis Saile (AD), Michael Kaelin, Sibill Zellweger (graphics), Karin Both (consulting). Photos: Jonas Kuhn, Zurich.

Ruf Lanz created a commercial for Weltwoche's Roger Köppel. This was prompted by the fact that Köppel was disinvited from the Arena because the newly elected Federal Councilor Didier Burkhalter did not want to debate with him on the political show. The 9-second spot ran as the last contribution directly before the broadcast. The message: "Everything I'm not allowed to say today in the arena, you'll read in the next Weltwoche. Cordially, Roger Köppel." The film had to be produced in record time: At 2 p.m., Köppel was on the phone with Danielle Lanz and Markus Ruf - about eight hours later, the spot was already on the air.

> To the spot

Responsible at Weltwoche: Roger Köppel (overall responsibility). Responsible at Ruf Lanz: Danielle Lanz, Markus Ruf (CD), Marcel Schläfle (Art), Markus Ruf (Text), Michael Gassler (Consulting). Production: Manifesto Film.

The Swisscom Board of Directors has decided to propose Hansueli Loosli for appointment as Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting in April 2011. The current Chairman of the Board of Directors, Anton Scherrer, will step down from the Board in 2011. Hansueli Loosli was elected to the Swisscom Board of Directors in April 2009. Swisscom's majority shareholder, the Swiss Confederation, has already approved Loosli's appointment. The Confederation holds 56.9 percent of Swisscom and is represented by one member on the nine-member Board of Directors.
Loosli, 54, has been Chief Executive Officer of Coop since 2001. He will relinquish operational management as of April 2011 and take over as Chairman of the Board of Directors at that time. He will then concentrate on his mandates at Swisscom and the Coop Group, the company wrote in a press release on Friday.

(Pictures: Keystone)