Some feared that this was a case of cheap speculation when Zurich-based C-Films announced its intention to film "The Überlingen Disaster". After the successful "Grounding", a quick reload of the genre with an even more humanly dramatic chapter from the dark days of Swiss aviation? The fears vanished into thin air. At the premiere yesterday, Monday, in Studio 1 of Swiss television, the invited guests were enthusiastic and deeply moved. Ingrid Deltenre, who attended the premiere as her "second last official act" before leaving her post as director at the end of the month, struggled to find the right words in her welcome address. "I can't wish you much pleasure, the subject is too sad for that." The handkerchiefs were not used as much as announced. The professionals in the scene watched the film in the technical environment of a TV studio. "Alone at home, my emotions will definitely come out," said Deltenre at the subsequent premiere party.
"Flug in die Nacht - Das Unglück von Überlingen" does not play with the seductive ingredients of horror that lie dormant in this drama. The movie is staged in a highly suspenseful way. The decisive minutes in the tower will make your hands clammy. The final seconds in the two cockpits are pure goosebumps. But then comes the real quality of this movie. How do the air traffic controller, his bosses at Skyguide, the public, his wife and of course the Russian father, who has lost everything with his wife and two children, continue to live with this fate?
"The young director Till Endemann came to us with the idea that he wanted to deal with this event in a psychological drama. We were quickly impressed by his intelligent approach," explained producer Peter Christian Fueter at the premiere. His C-Films, Maran Film, Don Bohlinger, SWR and the SF television film department spent a year developing the script. The finished work has already been shown on ARD in July. "With an excellent response, but unfortunately during the summer vacation," Fueter regrets. That's why they wanted to use this premiere in Leutschenbach to launch some more "action" in the media for the broadcast on Sunday, September 20, 20.05 on SF 1.
And how will those involved react when they see the movie about their lives and the deaths of their loved ones? Peter Christian Fueter was able to visit the Russian father and later murderer of the air traffic controller for over four hours in prison. "The man was completely traumatized," he recalls. Today, Vitaly Kaloyev works as construction minister in the Russian government. His interpreter in the investigation at the time, who was also present at the premiere, will bring him a DVD of the film to Moscow.

Andreas Panzeri

(Caption: Scenes from "Flug in die Nacht", with Ken Duken, Jevgenij Sitochin, Sabine Timoteo, Sophie von Kessel, Noemi Mühle, Peter Jecklin, Mike Müller and many others).

Facebook, Twitter - all water under the bridge. Thanks to the web portal "SayNow", the good old telephone is back in demand. The operators of the platform even claim to have "reinvented the use of telephone numbers". So how exactly does the latest trend from Hollywood work? Superstars can present themselves on the website and be contacted by their fans via a special telephone number. So an almost direct contact between fan and idol? Not quite. However, the service does offer fans the opportunity to listen to recorded or live messages over the phone - and has met with great interest. But what advantage does the service really offer compared to Facebook and Twitter? Contact with the superstars is not purely text-based, which makes it much more authentic, according to the press release. Reason: The celebrities cannot employ "ghostwriters" for their telephone marketing campaign.

The Bern-based agency Republica is now responsible for Westside's overall communication. Since the opening of the shopping and experience center a year ago, various other measures have been implemented in addition to the introduction of the brand - including theme-specific promotions and the Westside magazine, which is published six times a year. The aim is to communicate the breadth of the overall offering. The leitmotif of every campaign is "experience".

Marc Walder, Managing Director of Ringier Switzerland, now has overall operational responsibility for the "Newsroom" project. This will be formed from the editorial offices of the Blick Group and Cash from spring 2010. According to a press release, Walder will ensure that the editorial teams are optimally combined. Walder's appointment is based on his many years of experience as Editor-in-Chief and his position as Managing Director of Ringier Switzerland.
Walder is already the top manager of the Ringier "Newsroom" project. In future, he will also be increasingly responsible for the planned organizational models. Overall responsibility for the publishing house and editorial offices of the Blick Group lies with Caroline Thoma. The editorial management of the individual titles will continue to be the responsibility of the respective editors-in-chief.

Roland Loss, former Head of Merchandising at FC Zurich, has founded a competence center for fan merchandise. Atera Merchandising offers clubs, event organizers, companies and organizations a point of contact for merchandising. Among other things, this involves market analysis, product range creation, design and sales strategy implementation. The sale of fan merchandise is only successful if there is a clear concept behind it and the items are specifically tailored to the customer, owner Roland Loss is quoted as saying in a press release.

The French-speaking Swiss media group Edipresse posted a loss of CHF 3.2 million in the first half of the year. However, the figures are strongly influenced by the partial takeover by Tamedia. Because the Zurich-based publishing house Tamedia intends to gradually take over Edipresse's Swiss business by 2013, Edipresse has had to apply different accounting standards. For example, sales no longer include all products, only income from the international business (Eastern Europe, Spain and Asia), the luxury sector and Bilan magazine.
The remaining Swiss products that are being transferred to Tamedia - including the daily newspaper Le Temps - had to be reported separately. They suffered above all from the advertising slump. Turnover fell by 18 percent to CHF 173.6 million. If the two divisions are added together (on a pro forma basis), they generated sales of CHF 265 million. In the same period last year, the figure was CHF 385.3 million.
Edipresse also blamed the sale of its Portuguese activities in the first half of 2008 for the decline in sales. Currency effects also had a negative impact. On a pro forma basis, the operating result (EBITDA) amounted to CHF 11.7 million (previous year: CHF 35.4 million).

Forecasts difficult
Edipresse also announced that it is practically impossible to make reliable forecasts for both the second half of 2009 and 2010. The company will continue to focus on quality and innovative offerings and pursue the cost-cutting measures it has introduced. Edipresse thus hopes to return to profitability in 2010.

Step-by-step partial takeover by Tamedia
Tamedia intends to acquire 51.1 percent of Edipresse Switzerland for CHF 226 million in two stages by the beginning of 2011. The Zurich-based publishing house will then pay for the remaining shares at the beginning of 2013. Edipresse will not contribute its international magazine business to the marriage. The profitable western Swiss business magazine Bilan will be transferred to the international business.
The new Tamedia-Edipresse Group will be particularly strong in the daily print media. In addition to the free newspapers, the group combines twelve paid daily newspapers with a total circulation of 700,000 copies. The transaction still has to be approved by the Competition Commission (ComCo).

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked the internet companies Microsoft and Yahoo to disclose more information about their planned cooperation in the web search sector. On the basis of the precise details, the Department will then examine in detail whether or not the partnership announced at the end of July this year violates the applicable competition regulations, as reported by Cnet. The request is hardly surprising, as both companies had already expected the Ministry of Justice to carry out a thorough examination of the alliance plans.
Above all, the Ministry of Justice wants to investigate whether the reduction in competition in the search engine sector could be detrimental to the relevant market, according to Pressetext.ch. After all, the cooperation partners and Google could divide up the web search market among themselves. The two Internet companies do not share these concerns. On the contrary, the merger could lead to innovations and enrich the market.

From October, Axel Springer Switzerland will take over the journalistic and publishing management of Auto Bild Schweiz. In future, the magazine will be produced and published by the Bilanz business magazine team. In addition to their previous functions, Bilanz editor Dirk Ruschmann will take over the editorial management of Auto Bild Schweiz, Sandra Bruderer will be in charge of advertising and Patrizia Serra will be responsible for reader marketing. For the past twelve years, the magazine has been managed by automotive journalist Stefan Donat, who will continue to be available to Axel Springer Switzerland as a freelancer.
Auto Bild Schweiz, the supplement to the international automotive magazine, consists of a supplement of 8 to 16 pages containing specific Swiss automotive topics and advertisements. The magazine is published weekly with a paid circulation of over 12,000 copies.

Following an agency evaluation, Zurich Tokyo was commissioned by the insurance company Allianz Risk Transfer to develop a five-year concept for the ART Annual Object. This should contain the elements of an annual report, but at the same time be presented in a special form and sent to international customers as a thank you. The agency worked with the company's characteristic concepts of "knowledge" and "analysis", as the agency writes in a press release.

Responsible at Allianz Risk Transfer: Rolf Staub (Legal Counsel/Principal), Barbara Montz Signall (Business Assistant), Stefanie Brandau (Human Resources Operations), Birgit Schranz (Office Manager). Responsible at Zurich Tokyo: Daniel Donati (CD), Fabian Widmer (AD/graphics), Stefan Lemberger (consulting), Rebecca Grzesik (text, English), Claudia Kübler (illustration).

Ringier's search for a new Blick editor-in-chief has been concluded: as the Sonntagszeitung writes, the publisher's preferred candidate, Sonntag editor-in-chief Patrick Müller, has declined. Switzerland boss Marc Walder will therefore continue to assume journalistic and operational responsibility for the Blick Group. He will also be the journalistic head of the News Room, the heart of the new Blick organization. For the time being, no new editor-in-chief is being sought.

Every year, the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) awards the Grands Prix Design of the Swiss Confederation to individuals or companies who have made a significant contribution to Swiss design at national and international level. This year's prizes go to Robert Frank, Christoph Hefti, Ursula Rodel and the company Thut Möbel.
The winners were selected by the Federal Design Commission chaired by Patrick Reymond. Each award is endowed with CHF 40,000. The award ceremony will take place in Lausanne on October 20, 2009. The event will be held in conjunction with the opening of the Federal Design Awards 2009 exhibition at the mudac (Musée de design et d'arts appliqués contemporains), Lausanne.

The Award Winners
The 85-year-old photographer, director and cameraman Robert Frank is being honored for his life's work. According to the Federal Office of Culture, hardly anyone has had such a lasting influence on photography in the second half of the 20th century to this day. Frank emigrated to New York in 1947 and traveled to South America, Europe and the USA until the mid-1950s, including on assignment for magazines such as Life and Vogue. His most important documentary "Les Américains" was published in 1958.
Christoph Hefti, textile designer, musician and artist, is being honored for his creativity and his crossovers between design, art and music. Born in Lausanne, he currently lives in Antwerp and Brussels. He has been working as a creative assistant and print designer for Dries van Noten in Antwerp since 1997.
The career of Ursula Rodeldesigner for lifestyle culture, started out as a fashion designer in the 1970s. Today she lives and works in Zurich's Kreis 4 district. Ursula Rodel is being honored for her comprehensive work and thinking, which goes far beyond the field of fashion design and beyond the borders of Switzerland, writes the Federal Office.
The company Thut furniture was founded 80 years ago in Möriken and is now run by the third generation. The successful family business has been recognized for its innovative entrepreneurial spirit and incomparable design.

Copywriter Stefan Grob has won the Texterfeder, the highest award of the Swiss Text Awards. Grob is the owner and copywriter of the St. Gallen-based communications agency Complecta. His body of work submitted for the competition consists of work for the Graubündner Kantonalbank, Glarner Kantonalbank and the Espas Foundation from Zurich. He received the award last Saturday at the Sphères literary café in Zurich.
The Swiss Text Award has been presented annually since 2003 and is considered a promotional prize for modern business language. The jury evaluates the comprehensibility and originality of the language, the overall impression, the professionalism and the degree of difficulty of a work from various categories. The Swiss Text Award is announced and organized by the Swiss Text Academy Foundation in Davos.