Representatives of the Comedia and Impressum unions, the Tages-Anzeiger staff committee and the Bubenberg printing works committee drew up a social plan on Thursday. After six rounds of negotiations, a significantly better offer is now on the table, Stephanie Vonarburg, Central Secretary of the Comedia media union, told the SDA news agency on Thursday. She could not disclose any details.
The trade unions recommend that those affected accept the social plan negotiated with Tamedia. The editorial staff of the Zurich Tages-Anzeiger and employees of the Bubenberg printing center will make a final decision on Friday.

EgliFilm, based in Zurich, is taking over Schwarz Film from Ostermundigen in mid-July 2009 and integrating the post-production company into its corporate structure. The Bern location of Schwarz Film will remain and all employees will be taken over by EgliFilm.
The Schwarz Film name and business will be fully integrated into the Zurich-based company. The locations in Berlin and Ludwigsburg, Germany, will continue to be managed by the ARRI Group.

Marlies Keck has been working for Ticketcorner as PR Manager since October 1, 2009 and in this function also as media spokeswoman and editor-in-chief of the leisure magazine More. According to Presseportal, the qualified communicator FH / BSC worked in the media office at the Zurich Open in the Hallenstadion and as head PR editor at the Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad, then at Migros Bank. Since 2005, she has worked as a PR consultant for the agency Publicum pmi, where she has managed various major events in the cultural and entertainment sector.
Marlies Keck succeeds Christoph Soltmannowski, who is leaving Ticketcorner at the end of July. He will now work as Head of Internal Communications at Swiss International Air Lines. Stefan Epli will act as media spokesperson and PR manager at Ticketcorner on an interim basis.

TV and film productions will continue to be realized on the premises of the former Primetime in Schlieren. Lobster Studios, which was founded on July 1, 2009, has 29 permanent employees who, according to the press release, already have many years of experience in the specialist areas of corporate/image films, TV commercials, 3D animation/graphics, image/sound editing and studio productions. They have also gained experience with the TV programs "WohntraumTV", "Kochen.tv", "Futura.tv", "Ganzprivat" for regional TV stations and "Schulthess Klinik - das gesunde Sportmagazin" for SSF.

The Forum for Free Communication has been launched. According to a press release issued on Thursday, the new dialog platform aims to address the importance of free communication and information and to counter the increasing restrictions on advertising in the public sphere with rational arguments. The association is chaired by former Tages-Anzeiger editor-in-chief Peter Hartmeier. Pierre Triponez, National Councillor of the FDP Bern, and Bruno Frick, Councillor of States of the CVP Schwyz, support the forum as co-presidents.
The forum is an open platform for the exchange of opinions and seeks discussions with representatives from the fields of politics, society, business, culture, sport and health, the press release continues. In the near future, representatives from French-speaking Switzerland will also be invited to take part and become active across the language border.
The sponsors of the association are made up of the following institutions: Allianz Schweizer Werbeagenturen ASW, bsw leading swiss agencies, IAA Swiss Chapter, Interessengemeinschaft elektronische Medien IGEM, SDV Schweizer Direktmarketing Verband, Schweizer Presse, SWA Schweizer Werbeauftraggeber Verband, Schweizer Werbung SW, Telesuisse, Aussenwerbung Schweiz AWS, Verband Schweizer Privatradios VSP, VSW Verband Schweizer Werbegesellschaften.

The 27-year-old Patrick Schmid will be the live commentator for the athletics broadcasts on Swiss television. Patrick Schmid will make his first appearance on the channel together with Peter Minder on Friday, July 3, 2009, during the live broadcast of the Golden League meeting in Oslo at 8 p.m. on SF zwei. Together with Peter Minder, Patrick Schmid will also commentate on the broadcasts of the Athletissima Lausanne on Tuesday, July 7, 2009, the World Athletics Championships in Berlin from August 15, 2009 and the Weltklasse Zürich meeting on August 28, 2009. Patrick Schmid has been working for Swiss Television since September 2006, first as a trainee and since March 2008 as editor of "Sport Aktualität", specializing in athletics and ice hockey.

The current crisis in the US print media landscape has claimed its next prominent victim. After the renowned Forbes Magazine recently admitted that it would have to tighten its economic belt in future, the next horror story is already haunting the US media industry. According to Pressetext.ch, the renowned music magazine Vibe, which has been discontinued after more than 16 years, is at the center of the uproar. "It is with a heavy heart that I have to share some bad news with you. Vibe magazine will cease publication on June 30," writes Steve Aaron, CEO of the magazine, which is regarded as the "black edition of Rolling Stone", in an email to his own staff that has since been published by US media.
Aaron cites the collapse of the capital market as the main reason for the closure. "Over the past few months, we have very actively tried to exhaust all available investment resources and worked very intensively with our bank to find a solution. However, the situation on the market is currently very poor and the closure has ultimately become unavoidable," explains Aaron. The slump in the advertising business has hit the music magazine particularly hard. Core advertising customers such as the automotive and fashion industries, which had previously brought in the majority of sales, had jumped ship after the row.

The Fricktal Health Center has opened its extension in Rheinfelden. To mark the opening, the Basel West agency refreshed the corporate design and implemented it in a standardized form in various information materials. A newspaper supplement invited the people of Fricktal to the open day with many events and specialist lectures and at the same time presented the hospital with interviews, construction reports and department portraits.
Responsible at Gesundheitszentrum Fricktal, Rheinfelden: Anneliese Seiler, CEO. Responsible at Basel West Unternehmenskommunikation AG: Markus Siegenthaler (consulting, concept, editing), Tamara Wittwer, Frédéric Giger (layout, photography).

The Swiss Press Council is concerned about the extensive staff cuts in many media editorial offices. Even in times of a poor economy, journalists should not be seen as a mere cost factor.
Quality has its price, writes the Press Council in a press release on Thursday. Investing in independent, high-quality and credible media information is essential for the future of the industry. For the Press Council, there is a connection between job cuts, journalistic quality and compliance with professional ethical standards.
Mass redundancies, such as the recent ones at the Tages-Anzeiger and Bund newspapers, for example, do not send the public the signal that maintaining journalistic quality is a top priority, regardless of their economic justification. This is all the more the case when ambitious profit targets are announced or adhered to at the same time. For the Press Council, it would be better if both the individual media companies and the associations were to consider how journalistic quality could continue to be guaranteed.

Clientis Zürcher Regionalbank has chosen WVC Communications from Bubikon for its 2009/10 image campaign. According to the agency's statement, the focus of the budget is on positioning and publicizing the new name, which was changed to Clientis Zürcher Regionalbank following the merger of Clientis Sparkasse Zürcher Oberland and Clientis Sparkasse Küsnacht. The bank's individual services and products are also advertised. WVC convinced the bank, which is deeply rooted in the region, in a competitive presentation with its creative ideas for a more distinctive profile. The agency will position the new brand with advertisements, posters and various other advertising measures, as well as directly at the POS on site. The first fruits of the new collaboration will be visible to the public from mid-August 2009.

Every year, the Airport Media Award (AMA) honors the best airport advertising in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. From July 1, the competition enters its 12th round, this year with some innovations. For example, the organizer, Initiative Airport Media, will for the first time be awarding a special prize for the best campaign using digital media. According to the press release, the second innovation should also be an incentive to participate: A total of 100,000 euros in media volume for the implementation of a campaign of their own awaits the gold winners in the two categories of free and switched campaign.
The application form and the conditions of participation can be found at Airport-media-award.com.

SRG's regional convergence projects are on track. This is the conclusion reached by overall project manager Gérard Tschopp following an assessment of the current situation, which took place on June 30, 2009 in Bern together with the responsible SRG executives. At the same time, the national efficiency project to optimize the support areas was launched. The "Convergence and Efficiency" project has thus also been officially launched at national level. The projects in the language regions are progressing rapidly. The regional concepts for Italian-speaking Switzerland and Suisse romande can already be submitted to the SRG Board of Directors for approval at the end of this year.