Irene Frei, Head of Magazine Publishing at AZ Medien Group, is leaving the company at her own request at the end of April. She wants to return to professional independence, according to a statement issued on Monday. Frei joined the AZ Medien Group in September 2006. She was responsible for various interest and specialist magazines, including Kochen, Fit for Life, Technica and Natürlich. Before joining the AZ Medien Group, Frei worked for the German Haufe Mediengruppe and was Managing Director of its Swiss subsidiary Haufe Business Media. In the 1990s, she was project and marketing service manager at Tamedia and Ringier as well as profit center manager at Weka Verlag AG, before devoting herself to various publishing mandates as an independent entrepreneur from 1998.
Her successor has not yet been determined and will be appointed in the coming weeks.

 Publicitas is reissuing the Print Media Planner with updated data. Available for the 32nd time in pocket format from January 14, the 100-page publication presents the most important key figures on the Swiss population, media genres and their importance, as well as information on Internet usage and technical terms from the world of advertising. The publication focuses on the Swiss press market, according to a press release issued on Monday. Once again this year, all titles included in the Mach-Basic 2007-2 study are graphically illustrated with information such as socio-demographics, circulation and prices, and supported by text.
The Print Media Planner 2008 is available in German and French from Publicitas for a fee of CHF 30.

 Anna Maier will be joining DRS 3 in the spring, and Tom Gisler, Philippe Gerber and Franziska von Grünigen will also be joining the team of presenters.  
Anna Maier will return to her radio roots. According to a press release on Monday, the Zurich native will work part-time at DRS 3, mainly presenting the newly designed morning and afternoon programs. Her first assignments are planned from March 2008. She will also continue to work in the theater and TV sector.
Tom Gisler, 32, is moving from Radio Energy in Zurich to DRS 3, where he will be heard on the station's daytime program from April.
Philippe Gerber will also start in April. Most recently working at Radio Basilisk, he gained his first radio experience at Radio Edelweiss and Radio 105. He then moved to DRS Virus.
Franziska von Grünigen is currently working as a presenter and web editor at DRS Virus. The 29-year-old from Zurich will be a part-time presenter on DRS 3's daytime program and will continue to work as the SF editorial director of the "Nachtwach" program.

 The canton of Thurgau has a regional internet newspaper: Thurgau24.ch was launched by the Insomnia agency and has been officially online since January 14. According to a press release on Monday, it publishes official announcements from the canton and municipalities, institutions and organizations, as well as its own research in the areas of society, politics, business, culture and sport. A lot of space is also given to associations: they can place previews or reports on events on the website free of charge, and the online newspaper is edited seven days a week. The service is free of charge for readers and is financed by the display of advertising banners.
After Appenzell24.ch and Stadt24.ch, which record 500,000 page views per month, Thurgau24.ch is already the third daily online newspaper launched by Insomnia.

 Wirz Corporate has beaten two competitors in an international competition and is now responsible for the 2007 annual report of Clariant International. The global supplier of specialty chemicals has also commissioned the Zurich agency with the further development of its customer magazine, according to a press release issued on Monday. The annual report and the first edition of the magazine are due to appear in spring 2008.

 In December 2007, the Erlenbach-based agency Metzgerlehner was invited to a pitch by its long-standing client Bell. According to Bell, the advertisers impressed with a strategically well thought-out, multi-level cross-media concept. Metzgerlehner is looking forward to continuing its collaboration with the long-established Basel-based company, according to a statement from the agency.

At a panel discussion organized by the Zurich Press Association on the topic of "Journalism in 10 years" last week in Zurich, some important figures from the Swiss press landscape ventured a look into the future of their profession. Under the direction of young Zurich journalist Annette Müller, SF editor-in-chief Ueli Haldimann, Tamedia man Res Strehle, publicist Karl Lüönd, Sonntagsblick boss Marc Walder and freelance Middle East expert Karin Wenger exchanged views on the changes in the media landscape. "Quality is important, quality will survive," was emphasized again and again by everyone. Jobs like that of Karin Wenger, who reports as a freelance journalist for the NZZ from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, are not in danger if you know how to position yourself as a brand. Marc Walder quoted the editor-in-chief of the New York Post, who cited "critical thinking", "creative reporting" and "good writing" as the most important criteria for high-quality journalism. Res Strehle mentioned another quality that he believes is also essential for today's journalists: more flexibility. Due to the ever-increasing diversity of journalistic professions, journalists must be prepared in future to constantly adapt their work to new circumstances. He compared journalism to a canteen kitchen, where a newcomer first prepares the vegetables and then fills various positions until he or she can become a star chef. It makes sense to learn how to "prepare vegetables" online. Lüönd recommended newcomers to local newspapers such as the Tösstaler, where specialization is not yet very advanced and you can get to know all text forms and departments.

Online journalism is gaining prestige The role of the Internet was discussed at length, the possibilities of which the Tamedia and Ringier groups now intend to exploit more and more intensively. The reputation of online journalism was also discussed. According to Marc Walder, editor-in-chief of Sonntagsblick, online journalism has gained enormously in prestige. Today, he receives more applications for an online position than for a comparable position in print. In addition, he has already discovered a number of young talents in online journalism who have later been successful in the print sector. Strehle said that he could observe a similar development in his company. Today there are many good journalists who are not interested in working for the Tages-Anzeiger, but are interested in working for the new news portal.
Ueli Haldimann, SF blogger on duty ("I made the decision to run this blog in a very weak hour"), described it as sad that nowadays hundreds of journalists only paraphrase agency reports. There are too many online portals and too many free newspapers these days. "A clean-up is needed in the free newspaper sector," he said, calling for more quality journalism in the style of Karin Wenger. "As a journalist, you still make your mark through your own work. Through good research and your own stories. Not by copying agency reports." Res Strehle was far more positive about today's abundance of media offerings: "The current situation with the various free newspapers is wonderful for the readership. Talking about an epidemic is completely wrong," he emphasized, explaining once again that the Tamedia News project was designed for the very long term and was by no means launched in reaction to other media products. In future, there will be a brand portfolio of the Tages-Anzeiger, through whose various channels the editorial content will be distributed according to its design and topicality. Overall, there is a great deal of catching up to do in the Swiss media scene compared to Germany, the USA and the UK.
Everyone saw major challenges ahead for the management of the concerts. Diversification requires editors-in-chief to be able to distribute their editorial content appropriately across the various channels. "Media usage has changed dramatically. Journalism is a service and must adapt to changing demands," said Karl Lüönd, who operates independently of any media companies and was therefore able to enrich the discussion with pointed remarks. Online journalists are no longer "child soldiers" and the "formatting artists" who paraphrase agency reports are also very valuable. He also emphasized, referring in particular to the glut of free newspapers and online portals, that quality and level should not be confused. There is quality at every level, he said, and he also enjoys a meal at McDonalds every now and then because the fries there are extremely good. And if the votes of the media representatives present are to be believed - Lüönd was the only one to express concern about professions such as Wenger's - then quality will prevail in journalism. However, it was not specified more precisely.
Adrian Schräder
Picture: Felix Aeberli, Zurich Press Association

After three years at the agency group Draftfcb/Lowe in Wallisellen, the time has come for Creative Director Patrick Lienert to take a change of scenery. After an intensive period, he would like to take a creative break, which he has been planning for some time, before taking a new direction, as the agency announced. Last year, the group won new mandates such as BMW/Mini, Valser and Cablecom.

 
In the regular series "design your life", the Sonntagszeitung newspaper described its visit to Pedro Simko's private apartment in Geneva (he lives near the Jet d'Eau) last weekend. The series is dedicated to different forms of domestic self-realization, as the description says. However, the famous Swiss advertiser has not realized himself in his apartment, as the perhaps somewhat surprising conclusion after reading the article, but has primarily furnished his own four walls in a functional and comfortable way. "Cosiness like in a cocoon, that's important to me," says Simko about his living preferences. The apartment is unpretentious, cosmopolitan at the same time, and there is a dignified 5-star atmosphere, he adds. We also learn that Simko bought the bookcases in the hallway from Interio and has an intimate relationship with his books (as there are many heirlooms among them). We are fascinated to read about Simko's plans for the future (concerning the apartment): "I want to hang more art". And last but not least, the 48-year-old comments on his apartment himself with the words: "My apartment reflects the fact that I used to be a nobody. But it was never that important to me to be noticed. I was always looking for the inside." A look into the apartment, a look into the soul.

 The 18-year-old Stefanie Heinzmann from Valais achieved a Swiss success in Germany: she won Stefan Raab's song contest "SSDSDSSWEMUGABRTLAD" ("Stefan is looking for the superstar who can sing whatever he wants and can also perform on RTL"). The likeable young star won over the voting audience in the final with the song "My man is a mean man", beating two competitors out of the field. In addition to "Stefanie from Eyholz", as she was called on the show, ProSieben can also be pleased: In Switzerland, the show achieved a market share of 18.6 percent among 15- to 49-year-olds. Among young women aged 15 to 24, the share was as high as 26.6 percent. Host Raab also praised Stefanie: "Who would have thought that after DJ Bobo such a tube would come from Switzerland again". Heinzmann now has a record contract. A single is already available and a full album is due to be released on March 7. On January 19, the Valais native will appear live on the show "Schlag den Raab". Heinzmann has already received a great deal of media attention in Switzerland in recent days.

 
In the fall of 2006, the British newspaper "Daily Telegraph" expanded its website and introduced an afternoon edition in PDF format. From 4 p.m., online visitors could print out the latest edition, just in time for the commute home from the office. The newspaper has now been discontinued, as the NZZ reports. Apparently there was not enough interest.

 Spiegel-Verlag, which published a Swiss split last summer, is apparently considering an independent edition for the Swiss after all. Managing Director Mario Frank said at the New Year's reception for employees that he would be pleased if the considerations for a journalistic commitment in Switzerland were put on the agenda in 2008. This was reported by Horizont.de with reference to Spiegel employees. According to reports, Frank has been interested in a Swiss Spiegel project for some time, but was unable to reach an agreement with Stefan Aust, who is still editor-in-chief. His latest announcement on the subject does not seem to indicate a concrete project. It can be read more as a signal to the future editor-in-chief and shareholders than as a determined declaration of intent, according to Horizont.net. So it could be some time before the Swiss can enjoy their own Spiegel publication.
A spokeswoman for the publishing house told Horizont.net that the topic of Switzerland would be examined together with the future editor-in-chief. She left open whether this meant sporadic supplements or an independent weekly magazine. Last June, Der Spiegel published a separate supplement for Switzerland (see
). The German media company then announced that the split would not be continued.