It is quite possible that Liechtenstein cell phone owners will soon be able to dispose of their devices. With extremely low radiation limits, the country has laid a big egg for itself: A freeze on investment by mobile phone providers could lead to a nationwide radio blackout from 2013.
Now the government is looking at ways to get out of the dilemma after all. On Thursday, Parliament spent over four hours discussing the government's interim report on achieving the limit values for non-ionizing radiation in mobile telephony. Last year, Parliament set the limit value for radiation from cell phone antennas in the Environmental Protection Act at 0.60 volts per meter. This means that Liechtenstein's radiation limit is ten times lower than that of Switzerland. The four providers of mobile phone systems, including Swisscom and Orange, therefore decided unanimously last year to stop all investment and withdraw from the Principality. It would no longer be possible to operate a mobile radio system, even if seven to ten times more antennas were installed. The mobile communications companies will initiate their withdrawal from Liechtenstein in the first quarter of next year. The government does not currently see any opportunities to find new aspects or possible solutions through further clarifications, as it writes in its report. Parliament would have the power to turn the tide and bring the limit back into line with that in Switzerland. However, this was not done on Thursday. Parliament has passed the ball back to the government. Now the construction of its own mobile phone network is to be examined. Rumor has it that the builders will be handsomely remunerated.

WW: News, Newsnetz and Tages-Anzeiger will soon be working more closely together. Is it possible to say more precisely today in what form?
Christoph Zimmer: No. News will move into a joint newsroom with Newsnetz at the end of August. The collaboration will then be gradually established and expanded. Implementation and concrete steps, which are still open today, will develop on a day-to-day basis.

WW: News no longer has its own website. You can access the Tagi Newsnetz site via Newsprint.ch. What is planned in this regard?
Christoph Zimmer: We want to emphasize the cooperation between Tages-Anzeiger, Newsnetz and News within a joint media network. One step is the new design of the front page of News, another is the cooperation between News and Newsnetz and a further element is the integration of News into Newsnetz. Readers of News will thus benefit from an up-to-date and comprehensive range of information compared to the static e-paper. However, the News e-paper will remain available via Tagesanzeiger.ch.
WW: The Tages-Anzeiger is cutting over 50 full-time jobs. The redundancies will be announced this week. Can you be more specific? To what extent are the external editorial offices of the regional splits affected?
Christoph Zimmer: All departments are affected by the reduction. We do not publish figures for individual departments.
WW: Major changes are also underway at Züritipp. How far have the strategic considerations progressed?
Christoph Zimmer: Züritipp will remain an independent supplement, but like all other sections of the Tages-Anzeiger, it will have to contribute to the cost reductions.
WW: The City of Zurich's culture department has repeatedly expressed its dissatisfaction with the cultural agenda. They feel that they are not given enough consideration. Would a collaboration be conceivable?
Christoph Zimmer: We are always open to discussions.

Binding prices should once again apply to books in Switzerland. The National Council has prioritized the protection of books as a cultural asset over free competition. After an intensive debate, it approved the bill by 103 votes to 74. For a center-left majority, it was obvious "that books are not sneakers, potatoes or car batteries", as Alec von Graffenried (Greens/BE) said.
For the market-liberal representatives of the FDP and SVP, the bill is nothing more than a "serious violation of competition" without a constitutional basis, as Hans Rudolf Gysin (FDP/BL) explained. Economics Minister Doris Leuthard also raised constitutional concerns. Fixed book prices were the wrong means to achieve the "noble goals". This is where cultural policy must come in. The book trade is not an economic sector whose existence is at risk.
Comedia pleased with decision
In a communiqué, the media trade union Comedia expresses its delight at the National Council's decision. The book market is definitely not suitable for neoliberal solutions. According to the union, cultural diversity, a dense network of bookstores and thus jobs can only be secured with fixed book prices. It is hoped that the Council of States will also clearly support the draft law and make one or two improvements, such as removing the exemption for cross-border online booksellers.

The free newspaper News will be published with a slightly refreshed look from Tuesday, June 2, 2009. According to a press release from the publishing house Tamedia, the front page will be redesigned to emphasize the connection with the Tages-Anzeiger, the Berner Zeitung and the Basler Zeitung. The News headline will be centered, while the lettering of the three newspapers that publish the commuter paper will be more prominent and positioned above the News headline. The new design is intended to give the editorial team more scope for page design. In addition, advertisements can be placed to the left of the headline.
In August 2009, the editorial team of the free newspaper News will move into a joint newsroom with Newsnetz. A first step has already been taken: previously you could access the newspaper's e-paper via Newsprint.ch, but now you will be taken directly to Newsnetz. From August, the newsroom will be directly linked to the Tages-Anzeiger editorial ship. Collaboration between the editorial teams, which will remain independent, will then be gradually expanded. There are plans to incorporate content from Newsnetz into the commuter newspaper News. Many had expected Tamedia to withdraw the News title from the market following the discontinuation of the competitor newspaper .ch. However, there are no signs of this so far.

This is what the world has been waiting for: Melanie Oesch, folk music princess, passionate yodeler, object of desire for more than a few men and, incidentally, the daughter-in-law's dream come true of every normal mother, feels called to write. Yes, yodeling alone no longer seems to fulfill her, every two weeks she will tell us about the colourful cosmos of her picture book life - according to the press release, her literary outpourings should be "direct, honest, close to the people". That's how we like it, that's how it has to be. The crime scene is the magazine TV-Star, the title of the corpus delicti is, how could it be otherwise, "Melanie's World". The column is a real challenge for her, the figurehead of Oesch's die Dritten is quoted as saying in Axel Springer's press release. She is curious to see how the TV star readers will react. We agree - it really will be interesting to see. Has the world really been waiting for this?

On Wednesday, the National Council approved a revision of the Radio and Television Act in order to secure participation in the EU film promotion program Media. In future, advertising for beer and wine will be permitted for all radio and TV broadcasters.
Thanks to Media, Swiss filmmakers should soon be able to benefit equally from EU programs. The obligation linked to the EU agreement to apply the EU "Television without Frontiers" Directive from 2009, which conflicts with the advertising bans in the new RTVA, is causing problems. The Federal Council has therefore agreed a compromise solution with the EU: The stricter advertising regulations can be enforced as part of an arbitration procedure, provided they are proportionate, non-discriminatory and in the public interest. The ban on religious and political advertising as well as advertising for spirits and mixed drinks such as alcopops can be upheld thanks to this procedure. The situation is different for advertising for beer and wine. According to the RTVA, this is permitted for local but not for national TV stations.
The Council of States opted for the radical solution of banning all advertising for alcoholic beverages in SRG TV programs, private channels and foreign advertising windows in Swiss media. The decision was motivated by the idea of prevention and the protection of minors.
The National Council rejected the idea of banning advertising for alcoholic beverages altogether by 91 votes to 78. Motions by the SVP to also allow political and religious advertising in the electronic media were rejected by 121 votes to 33 and 129 votes to 21. In the overall vote, the RTVA revision passed with 92 votes in favor, 30 against and 43 abstentions. The ball is now once again in the Council of States' court.
According to a press release, the Swiss Press Association welcomes the decision. It sees it as support for the Swiss media industry and domestic beer producers as part of the Swiss economy, as well as in terms of freedom of advertising as part of freedom of communication.

The new Swiss online telephone directory Tel.ch has chosen to work with Jenni Kommunikation in the area of public relations. The Zurich-based agency will take over the mandate with immediate effect and will be responsible for communication activities throughout Switzerland. The main tasks of Jenni Kommunikation in terms of media relations are technical consulting as well as the implementation of the communication strategy, according to a statement on Wednesday.
Tel.ch provides telephone numbers, addresses, industries, and directions matching the search results, as well as SBB timetables, in the four national languages and in English. Tel.ch has been live for around two months.

Y&R Group Switzerland has secured a second nomination at the New York Festivals. In the "Promotion of Peace/Human Rights" category of the outdoor advertising section, Futurecom, an agency belonging to the group, has made the shortlist with its work for the Tibetan Youth Association. The winners will be announced at the end of the week.

The Neidhart + Schön Group is expanding its partnership with the "Executive Master of Science in Communications Management" (Mscom) postgraduate program for communications specialists at the USI Università della Swizzera italiana in Lugano. The partnership is long-term and includes support for the publishing activities of all public events. The Mscom lecture series "Excellence in Communications" will be extended to include the "Geneva Mscom Communications Forum". The partnership also includes this year's 10th anniversary, which will take place on November 13 and 14 in Lugano together with the Mscom Alumni Association.

SFLB's second campaign for the Zurich School of Business HWZ is also aimed at professionals and aims to motivate them to question and improve their own career situation. According to the agency's press release, it is therefore targeting them on their way to work: with an e-board at Zurich main station and with posters. On the e-board, the visual appearance of the SBB timetable board directly opposite has been deliberately taken up and slightly altered. This means that passers-by can see the latest HWZ courses rather than the trains that will take them to their destinations.
Responsible at HWZ: Prof. Dr. Jacques F. Bischoff (Rector), Martina Schönenberg (Marketing and Communications). Responsible at Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett: Friederike Coninx (art), Christian Schäfer (text), Peter Brönnimann, Martin Spillmann (CD), Dominik Mätzener, Cyrill Matter (consulting), Elif Cosarpinar (Flash animation).

Station board. from SFLB on Vimeo.