The Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, the final of which will take place on Saturday, is already causing quite a stir. Not only some participants, but also homosexual associations and animal rights activists will look back with resentment.
Everything that went wrong or could go wrong: The Latvian singer Intars Busulis was taken off the train by Russian border police because they thought his passport looked suspicious. In the end, he had to travel on to Moscow by bus. Because Anstassija Prichodko, a Ukrainian, is competing for Russia, the hosts' competition song was met with hostility in the local show business. Svetlana Loboda herself caused a scandal at the gala. She appeared with supposed lacerations on her face and body. A protest against domestic violence, as she explained. There could also be a protest on stage during the final itself. The Dutch male trio De Toppers have announced "a gesture" should there be violence against gays and lesbians at the demonstration of homosexuals planned for Saturday in Moscow. Last but not least, animal rights activists also sharply criticized the Eurovision organizers. Stray dogs and cats had been caught in Moscow to make the city appear cleaner to Western Grand Prix tourists. It is cruel to use such methods because of a song contest, the Russian section of the nature conservation organization WWF now accuses the organizers. Yet animals can be so welcoming, as the stills below from a short film currently circulating everywhere show.

In the first quarter of 2009, Axel Springer recorded earnings growth of 2.1 percent to 80.3 million euros. At 620 million euros, revenues were slightly lower than in the previous year (641.7 million euros). Revenues fell by 3.4 percent from 641.7 million euros to 620 million euros.
Axel Springer was able to compensate for the decline in advertising revenues with robust circulation revenues in the first quarter of 2009, as CEO Mathias Döpfner said in Berlin on Thursday. Circulation revenues totaling 289 million euros were only 1.7 percent below the previous year's level. The bottom line for Axel Springer in the first three months of the year was a surplus of 213 million euros, which included proceeds from the sale of minority interests in several regional newspapers. The previous year's figure of 449.9 million euros included a non-recurring effect from the sale of shares in ProSiebenSat.1 Media. Adjusted for such effects, net income increased by 9.7 percent to 34.9 million euros.
In view of the severe economic downturn, the Executive Board expects a dramatic impact on the advertising market for the year as a whole. With strong growth of 26.6 percent in digital advertising revenues, Axel Springer was able to keep the general decline in the advertising business to a mere 8 percent, Döpfner continued.
During the economic crisis, the German media group is relying on its domestic titles and the strong growth of its own Internet offerings. Some of the foreign titles suffered considerably from the consequences of the economic crisis, with revenues in this segment falling by 26 percent to 72.4 million euros. The difficult conditions and exchange rate effects had a particular impact on important markets in Eastern Europe and Spain. In contrast, business in France and Switzerland was relatively stable. With sales of 292.4 million euros, the Newspapers National segment was only 1.4 percent below the previous year's sales of 296.7 million euros.
In Switzerland, Axel Springer owns various TV program guides as well as Bilanz, Handelszeitung and Beobachter, among others.

Espace Media is continuing the Bernese daily newspaper Der Bund. From fall 2009, the paper will work closely with the Tages-Anzeiger. But with tough cost-cutting measures: A total of 22 jobs will be cut. In future, the paper will be positioned even more consistently as a regional newspaper.
The aim of the collaboration between the Bund and Tages-Anzeiger is to offer the demanding readership of the two titles a jointly developed package with expanded reporting on national and international politics, culture, sport and business, writes Tamedia in a comprehensive press release on Wednesday. The editorial team of the Bund will now comprise 35 full-time positions instead of the previous 54. A total of 19 full-time positions will be cut.
The collaboration between the Bund and Tages-Anzeiger is intended to strengthen both titles. Der Bund will be responsible for the joint editorial office in Bern and will provide Tages-Anzeiger with selected business, cultural and special pages. In return, Der Bund will receive national content from Tages-Anzeiger. Four newspaper bundles with a new design are planned. The first bundle will include domestic and international reporting, the second bundle will cover business topics and the new sports section created jointly with the Tages-Anzeiger. The city and canton of Berne are the focus of the third bundle. The former weekend supplement "Der kleine Bund" is now published daily as the fourth newspaper bundle and is dedicated to topics such as culture, society and knowledge. The editor-in-chief of the Bund will remain 56-year-old Artur K. Vogel, who has been at the helm of the daily newspaper since 2007 and played a key role in developing the new concept.
With the continuation of the Bern newspaper model, Espace Media is venturing a strategy that will have to prove itself in the coming years, Tamedia continues. The cooperation with the Tages-Anzeiger is intended to reduce the previous losses and achieve balanced results in the medium term. In order to further improve the economic prospects of the Bund, the subscription fee will be increased in the medium term. At the same time, Espace Media will enter into negotiations on the future support of the Bund with those institutions and companies whose representatives have campaigned for the preservation of the daily newspaper in the "Save the Bund" committee.
In order to exploit the opportunities offered by journalistic competition in Bern, the Berner Zeitung wants to position itself even more consistently as a leading regional newspaper. A new community editorial team will further improve contact with readers. A stronger regionalization of the news platform Bernerzeitung.ch within the Newsnetz is also planned.

On Thursday, SF editor-in-chief Ueli Haldimann will have to answer to the Zurich District Court for recording Kassensturz with a hidden camera. In addition to him, three other SF employees are also on trial.
The recordings were broadcast in December 2006 and February 2007 on the Kassensturz program. In the report, the doctor examined the breasts of a young woman who had registered for a breast augmentation on behalf of the Kassensturz editorial team. It was criticized that the surgeon had palpated the woman's breasts unnecessarily often.
The court has to deal with the question of whether or not the use of the hidden camera was permissible in this case. The use of a hidden camera is the last resort of investigative journalism, Haldimann explained to the Zurich District Court on Thursday. For the Kassensturz reports, secret recordings in cosmetic surgeons' surgeries were indispensable. The aim was to make it clear that many procedures are carried out prematurely, carelessly and without risk disclosure.
In addition to Haldimann, the editorial director of Kassensturz, Wolfgang Wettstein, two other SF employees and the female "decoy" must also stand trial. Public prosecutor Lukas Wehrli is requesting different levels of conditional fines and penalties. He is demanding the highest penalty for Haldimann: he wants to impose a conditional fine of 30 daily rates of CHF 560 each and a fine of CHF 6,000 on the editor-in-chief responsible.

This year's main prize from the Bernese Foundation for Radio and Television goes to the two television journalists Beat Bieri and Ruedi Leuthold. The two are being honored for their documentary report "Kampf um die Engstlenalp".
The report broadcast on SF 1 on the alp in the area of conflict between nature and winter sports not only traced a chapter in the history of tourism, but also showed the different interests that clashed above Innertkirchen, the foundation explained its decision.
Further prizes go to Luzia Stettler from Swiss Radio DRS 1, Emmanuel Tagnard from TSR and Christian Walther from Swiss Television and to the Regionaljournal Bern Freiburg Wallis from Radio DRS.
Stettler is being honored for the program "Familientreffen der Kummerbuben" (Family reunion of the Kummerbuben) exactly 40 years after the release of the film of the same name, the two television journalists for a report on the Vaudois artist François Junod and the editors of the Regional Journal for their convincing reporting on the first social report of the Canton of Berne.
Every year, the Berner Stiftung awards prizes for outstanding radio and television programs. This year, the jury had to judge 16 radio and 17 television programs. The awards will be presented in Bern on Thursday.

In the first quarter of 2009, pay-TV broadcaster Premiere almost tripled its loss. According to the company on Thursday, the loss rose from 28.1 million euros in the same period last year to 80 million euros. Turnover remained stable at 232.7 million euros, while the number of subscribers fell from 2.4 million at the end of 2008 to 2.37 million. Premiere continues to expect a considerable operating loss for the current year. The company is not aiming to be in the black until 2011.
The pay-TV station is now to be restructured. According to the press release, four new channels are planned. The new offering is to be officially presented in the coming days. In addition, the channel will operate under the name Sky Deutschland in the future in order to align the offering with Sky's offerings in Italy and the UK. Most of the pay-TV channels of major shareholder News Corp are called Sky. Media entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch's group holds around 30 percent of the Munich-based broadcaster. The renaming is subject to the approval of the Annual General Meeting.
The broadcaster hopes to attract new subscribers under the new name, but is also accepting a high write-down. The depreciation of the old name will reduce the net result for the second quarter by 256.1 million, as Premiere announced.

The decision has been made, the figures have been announced: The Tages-Anzeiger is cutting a total of 50 full-time editorial positions as part of its reorganization. The personnel measures go hand in hand with the changeover to a four-bundle concept.
The reduction, which affects all departments, is part of a comprehensive new concept that also provides for savings in printing and distribution through the introduction of a four-bundle newspaper. All regional information will be brought together in one newspaper bundle. This is intended to strengthen the regionalization of the paper. The appearance of Switzerland's largest subscription-based daily newspaper is to be given a "higher quality" with a new design from fall 2009 and reader guidance is to be greatly improved, Tamedia wrote in a press release on Wednesday.
Together with the news platform Tagesanzeiger.ch and the commuter newspaper News, the Tages-Anzeiger intends to exploit the possibilities of a comprehensive media network in a more targeted manner in future. The editorial teams of Newsnetz and the commuter newspaper News will therefore move into a joint newsroom in August 2009, which will be directly connected to the Tages-Anzeiger editorial ship. Over the course of the second half of 2009, the Newsnetz and News editorial teams will gradually expand their collaboration. The plan is to incorporate Newsnetz content into the commuter newspaper News and for the two editorial teams to work closely together with the Tages-Anzeiger in the area of basic news coverage. The cooperation will lead to a further gradual reduction of the editorial staff by the end of 2009, which, however, can probably be realized without layoffs, Tamedia continues.
In future, the editorial offices of the Tages-Anzeiger media network, including the Tages-Anzeiger daily newspaper, the Newsnetz and the commuter newspaper News, will comprise a total of around 235 full-time positions.

With immediate effect, the business and finance platform Cash will be headed by Daniel Hügli as Editor-in-Chief and André Michel as Managing Director. The previous editor-in-chief Rüdi Steiner is taking a sabbatical.
André Michel and Daniel Hügli are now responsible for Cash. This was announced by the media group Ringier on Thursday. Under their leadership, Cash.ch is to further expand its market leadership in the area of business and financial information, continuously advance its growth strategy and expand its current portfolio of online portal, TV broadcasts, WebTV and mobile applications with "innovative digital offerings," the press release emphasizes. The current editor-in-chief of Cash, Rüdi Steiner, has decided to take a sabbatical, according to Ringier.

Daniel Hügli, 44, holds a doctorate in English and German and has been Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Cash Daily, or Cash, since its launch in September 2006. Prior to that, he was head of the "Finance" department at Handelszeitung for two years and editor at the news agency Bloomberg News from 1999 to 2004. In addition to his role as Editor-in-Chief, Hügli will continue to host the business program Cash TV on SF2 once a month.

51-year-old André Michel has been Head of Business Development and Financial Products at cash since July 2006. Prior to that, he had held various positions at cash since 1998, including deputy editor-in-chief and head of the Invest department. An economist and financial scientist, he was a founding shareholder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Borsalino.ch and spent 12 years as Head of the Economics Department at the Berner Zeitung. As Cash's new managing director, he bears overall responsibility for the platform's operations and strategic direction.
Cash.ch occupies the top position in the use of business-relevant information and, according to Net Metrix, recorded an average of 2.63 million visits per month with 332,000 unique clients over the last three months.

The Geneva daily newspaper L'Agefi will present its new concept on Friday. The publisher Agence économique et financière announced in a press release that the focus will be on both traditional and innovative reporting on financial and economic events. With its clear focus on these topics and its target audience, the daily newspaper is focusing on its identity.
The new Delegate of the Board of Directors and Editor-in-Chief François Schaller had already been preparing the relaunch for two months on behalf of the investor Alain Duménil. On Friday, readers can expect a magazine with a new concept and a considerably reduced format.

The Goldbach Media Group's Crossmedia Award will be presented for the fifth time in a row on May 19. The nominees for this year's competition were announced on Thursday. A jury has selected six cross-media campaigns from 30 applicants.
The following works were nominated:
- Basler Insurance (Y&R Group Switzerland)
- Graubünden Holidays/Heineken Switzerland (Jung von Matt/Limmat)
- Mars Switzerland (Wirz Advertising)
- Médecins Sans Frontières (Rod Communication)
- Swiss Radio DRS (Jung von Matt/Limmat)
- Swisscom (Advico Young & Rubicam)
The three winners will be honored at the Crossmedia Award Night on May 19 at the Hürlimann Areal in Zurich.
The decisive criteria for the nominations were the degree of innovation, intelligent linking, creative implementation, track record and the overall impression of the campaign. The jury consisted of Marco Taborelli (Marco Taborelli Consulting), Geri Aebi (Wirz Werbung), Regula Fecker (Rod Kommunikation), Urs Renner (Optimedia), Urs Schneider (Mediaschneider), Jürg Siegrist (SWA-ASA), Philipp Skrabal (Advico Young & Rubicam), Walter Tagliaferri (Euro RSCG Zurich / Eurad), Dominique von Matt (Jung von Matt/Limmat, BSW advertising agency), Franziska von Weissenfluh (Berner Zeitung), Marc Werner (Swisscom Fixnet).

The Zurich agency Heusser Communicates designed and produced the 2008 annual report for the Hirslanden Heart Center in Zurich. The theme of this year's report is "Innovations in cardiac medicine". Double-page images give these innovations a face by presenting the teams in the high-tech environment of the clinic. Among other things, the reader learns how many specialists and which new technologies are required for an operation. In addition, doctors from the Heart Center report on their specialist areas.

Responsible at the Hirslanden Heart Center, Zurich: Franziska Bernet. Contact at Heusser Communicates, Zurich: Thomas Heusser (consulting), Anita Elsenhans (art direction), Benjamin Barmettler (graphics/layout/illustration/image editing). Photography: Judith Stadler and André Uster (Das Bild).

Swisscom is launching a campaign for mobile surfing on cell phones and notebooks, aimed at the company's private customers. Using a TV commercial as a starting point, the Zurich agency Jung von Matt/Limmat is presenting the mobile Internet in a romantic light. The commercial, a boy-meets-girl story, is shown on TV. On the Internet, it becomes an extended, interactive product film. This can be viewed at www.swisscom.ch/mobilessurfen can be viewed.
The campaign is supported on the Internet with online advertising media such as sales banners, interactive banners, floating ads and a competition. The campaign will be advertised at points of sale with posters, dispensers and additional measures. Brochures, guerrilla measures and promotions for private customers are also being used. In total, the campaign comprises over 120 different advertising media.
Responsible at Swisscom: Thomas Ulrich (Head of Marketing Communication Private Clients), Patrizio Pivirotto (Head of Segment Communication Private Clients), Roger Renfer (Brand Manager Private Clients), Daniel Röösli, Nathalie Maibach (Marcom Manager Private Clients), Sake Goekbas (Online Communication Private Clients), Phil Picard (Head of Online Portal). Responsible at Jung von Matt / Limmat: Tom Seinige, Alexander Jaggy, Markus Rottmann (Creative Direction), Alexander Holtz, Thomas Engeli, Samuel Knaus (Text), Inken Rohweder, Barbara Blaesi, David Hanselmann (Art Direction), Nora Vögeli, Matthias Fürst (Graphics), Bruno Manser, Claude Eberhard, Notarmon Buchli (Digital Media), Martin Samsel (Unit Management Consulting), Matthias Adolf, Sebastian Durband, Dennis Busch, Petra Gayko, Jasmin Schmid, David Lüscher (Consulting), Ilonka Galliard and Didi Knall (Art Buying), Caspar Martig (Photography), Tobias Fueter (Director), Jyri Pasanen (Director Making ofs), Peek (Production), Jingle Jungle (Sound Studio).