A search engine developed by an American computer science student has been online for two weeks and can be used to easily identify which companies, authorities or political parties are changing Wikipedia entries. It has become known, for example, that Microsoft and the CIA are among the most avid contributors to the Internet encyclopaedia, but that politicians are also purging existing entries about them of unwelcome criticism (see: ). This weekend, the Swiss Sunday press took up the issue of Switzerland. According to NZZ am Sonntag, entries about Swiss Post, Coop, Kuoni and Swiss Radio International, for example, were either rewritten in PR style by the respective offices or passages criticizing the company were removed. The content of entries by private individuals such as Daniel Vasella, Swiss Life boss Rolf Dörig, Marcel Ospel and Roger Köppel was also edited from their company offices. Vasella, for example, suddenly only earned CHF 21 million instead of CHF 44 million as CEO of Novartis and there was no more talk of "self-promotion". When asked by the Sonntagszeitung whether he was aware of the changes, Roger Köppel said that he himself had corrected tendentious or even false information.

 According to Sonntagsblick, SRG Director General Armin Walpen wants to remove Formula 1 race broadcasts from the program after the 2007 season, contrary to the ideas of other TV bosses. The newspaper reports that Ingrid Deltenre, Director of Swiss Television, and her colleagues from French and Italian-speaking Switzerland, as well as SF Sports Director Urs Leutert, are against canceling race broadcasts. The reason for the cancellation is apparently cost-cutting measures; Walpen announced at the beginning of the year: "No more Formula 1 broadcasts on SRG channels. SRG has to save money.". The rights cost SRG CHF 3.5 million a year, which is offset by only CHF 1.5 million in advertising and sponsorship income. Sonntagsblick, on the other hand, believes that the revenue potential of the program, which is watched by an average of 300,000 viewers, has not yet been exhausted.

 When the Federal Council defined the TV coverage areas at the beginning of June, the entire canton of Schwyz was allocated to the Central Switzerland coverage area. The Federal Council thus overturned its own first version, in which the districts of March, Höfe and Einsiedeln in Ausserschwyz and the Linth area of St. Gallen were declared a mixed area. This meant that several licensed transmitters could have been received in these areas. In a second version, Ausserschwyz, the Linth region and the canton of Glarus were then removed from the Zurich reception area. This caused resentment in some areas that tend to be oriented towards Zurich. In the canton of Schwyz, two cantonal councillors submitted requests to the government, as a large proportion of the population from the districts of March, Höfe and Einsiedeln are oriented towards Zurich. Specifically, Othmar Büeler's question states that the population does not want to do without the Tele Züri channel. Cantonal councillor Marco Steiner puts it even more pointedly: "Many television consumers in the region are therefore asking themselves the anxious question of whether we will have to do without regional reporting in future.
The government council of the canton of Schwyz has apparently taken these requests seriously. It intervened with the federal government a few days ago, as the Schwyz State Chancellery confirmed to Werbewoche. The government is annoyed that it was not taken into account in a second round of hearings on the controversial coverage area that took place last April. In a letter to the Federal Council, the government is therefore demanding that the zoning be adjusted again.
Federal Councillor Leuenberger has already replied to the letter from the Schwyz government, Bakom spokesman Bernhard Bürki told Werbewoche: "The coverage areas will be licensed as they were determined. In the foreseeable future, there will be no more changes. Double coverage is to be avoided as a matter of principle.
Tele Züri regrets this decision, as Andreas Meili, Head of Electronic Media at station owner Tamedia, told Werbewoche. The fact that the Zurich-North-Eastern Switzerland coverage area does not also include the so-called "Ausserschwyz districts" is not in the viewers' interest. In the outlying areas of the canton of Schwyz, but also of St. Gallen, Aargau and Glarus, there are strong links to Zurich, said Meili. "It would have been desirable to take into account the reciprocal relationships between Zurich and these regions when defining the future service areas. The fact that the Federal Council decided otherwise is a downer, but it does not change the fact that we are applying for the license in the Zurich-North-Eastern Switzerland region with TeleZüri," explained Meili.
Bakom spokesperson Bürki pointed out that it is not yet certain whether Tele Züri will actually receive the coveted Zurich-North-Eastern Switzerland area: "After all, the tender is now underway and the licenses will only be awarded as part of this process." The procedure should be completed by next spring.
If Tele Züri comes away empty-handed, it may continue to broadcast in the disputed areas of Schwyz: According to the new Radio and Television Act (RTVA), broadcasters who do not claim license fee money are only obliged to register. However, in addition to the fees, they also lose the guarantee that they will be technically broadcast. The so-called "must carry" broadcasters are only the licensed ones. However, according to the RTVA, these may only broadcast within their designated area. If Tele Züri is granted a license, the Ausserschwyzers will indeed be left with the apparently much-loved station.
Carole Scheidegger

 Notaries from Geneva and Vaud tried to improve their tarnished image in some places with an unusual campaign on Saturday. They gave out free legal advice on the street. In the canton of Vaud, notaries took to the streets in Lausanne, Yverdon-les-Bains, Morges and Vevey. Anne Gaussen, President of the Vaud Association of Notaries, told the SDA news agency that the event was a complete success. There were often five or six people queuing in front of one tent, said Gaussen. On average, the consultations lasted around 20 minutes and were appreciated. In Geneva, the notaries received their clients in a streetcar and also in a tent. This was the third time the campaign had taken place here. Can this kind of customer proximity and goodwill set a precedent?

 On Friday, the internet company Google reached an agreement with four news agencies to publish their reports directly on its news site. This was reported by SDA on Saturday. On Friday, Google had announced corresponding license agreements with AFP, AP, the British Press Association and the Canadian Press. Until now, Google News has collected the relevant reports from various websites itself, in particular from newspaper sites. A spokesperson for the Google News division also said that in the long term, the reports would be accompanied by advertising. However, the agreement does not mean that the reports from these agencies will be given preferential treatment, he said. Google News began operations five years ago.

 This is truly bad timing: just a few days after the announcement of a reorganization at Le Matin, as part of which six journalists are losing their jobs, the industry magazine Schweizer Journalist honors Edipresse man Theo Bouchat with the title "Swiss Media Manager of the Year". In a press release, editor-in-chief Markus Wiegand praises the award winner for his keen sense of topics and developments in the industry as well as his courage to come up with new ideas. The strategies of the former journalist Bouchat were never aimed at destroying the competition. He was praised for his particular skill in dealing with competition from free newspapers. According to the Swiss journalist, his two-brand strategy, whereby paid and free titles appear in the same format, with a similar layout and title, has proven to be an effective means of supporting the paid paper.
But it is precisely this strategy that is now being reversed. As Le Matin announced last Monday, the products will have to stand out more from each other again in future (see
). When asked by Werbewoche, Markus Wiegand from Schweizer Journalist admitted that the timing was somewhat unfortunate. Nevertheless, they still fully support the awarding of the prize to Bouchat. After all, finding the right strategy in this tough market environment is difficult, as the example of Blick shows. Despite the tough competition, more media professionals work at Le Matin today than before the launch of the free edition, Wiegand continued. The prize is being awarded for the second time this year. It honors publishing personalities who work in an innovative and future-proof way for their companies. The jury consisted of Josefa Haas (Head of Medieninstitut Schweizer Presse), Maili Wolf (Dr. Maili Wolf Consulting, Medien und Kommunikation, Karl Vögeli (Vögeli Medienconsulting), Peter Wanner (Publisher of the Year 2006), Johann Oberauer and Markus Wiegand.

 The Regional Council of SRG Deutschschweiz elected Viktor Baumeler as Chairman of the company on Friday. This makes him ex officio Chairman of the Board of Directors of Schweizer Radio DRS and Schweizer Fernsehen. Baumeler, who is State Secretary of the Canton of Lucerne and was previously Vice-Chairman of SRG Deutschschweiz, will take up the post at the beginning of 2008. He succeeds Hans Fünfschilling, a member of the Council of States from the canton of Basel-Landschaft, who is stepping down due to the statutory term limit, according to an SRG press release. Newly elected to the Board of Directors of SRG German-speaking Switzerland from among several candidates were government councillors Esther Gassler-Leuenberger (Solothurn) and Karin Keller-Sutter (St.Gallen) as well as Niklaus Ullrich, Canton Baselland's Culture Commissioner. They replace Hans Fünfschilling and the two National Councillors Brigitta Gadient (Graubünden) and Doris Stump (Aargau), who are leaving the Board of Directors due to the incompatibility of their parliamentary mandate with functions in SRG bodies as stipulated in the Parliament Act.
Heinz Karrer, CEO of Axpo Holding AG, and Peter Bamert, CEO of Ex Libris AG, were confirmed as members of the Board of Directors. SRG Director General Armin Walpen is also an ex officio member of the Board of Directors.

 
Sandra Kobelt-Walker will take over as Head of Corporate Communications at Feldschlösschen Beverages on September 10, 2007. Kobelt can look back on 15 years of professional experience and has a strong track record in this field. Kobelt, who grew up in Aargau, studied at the Universities of Basel, Oxford and Cambridge and has worked as a communications specialist at Kuoni and Shell Switzerland, among others. For the past eight years, she has been Head of Communications and Public Affairs at Mars Switzerland in Zug, according to a Feldschlösschen press release.

 Provided that it appears in the non-official section, the Bernese cultural agenda can be enclosed with the official gazette. This was the conclusion reached by the cantonal Office for Municipalities and Spatial Planning. In addition, as a supplement to the official gazette, it may not contain any political content, as the cantonal Office for Municipalities and Spatial Planning announced according to SDA. Guest columns, personal commentaries and editorials are also to be avoided. The Berner Kulturagenda, which was launched in 2005, is looking for distribution options after an attempted collaboration fell through in the spring due to a lack of funding from the Agenda.

 After Swiss Printers announced a reduction of 74 jobs and the outsourcing of 65 jobs in July, there is now better news: the joint venture of the Ringier, NZZ and Edipresse groups is investing a total of CHF 30 million in new web offset systems at its printing sites in Renens, St. Gallen and Zofingen. To this end, several existing systems and ancillary operations at the three web offset sites will be modernized in 2008 and 2009. The total investment amounts to around 30 million Swiss francs. A 32-page system in St. Gallen and a 16-page system in Zofingen will both be replaced with modern machines of the same size, while a 16-page system in Renens will be modernized and brought up to date. With this forward-looking decision, Swiss Printers wants to show its commitment to Switzerland as a production location, according to a press release.

 Just a year ago, a caricature of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper provoked angry reactions in the Muslim world. Now a new edition of the dispute is threatening: the Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published a drawing showing the Prophet's head on a dog's body. At present, the uproar is still limited to diplomatic circles. Sweden's representatives in Pakistan and Iran have already been summoned to the respective foreign ministries. The diplomat in Islamabad has been informed that the publication of the cartoon has offended the religious sensibilities of Muslims. As reported by SDA, the diplomat tried to calm the waters: "Unfortunately, there is a growing tendency among some Europeans to mix freedom of expression with blunt and well-considered insults to the world's 1.3 billion Muslims."
His words do not seem to have missed their mark: The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) will now discuss future action "against the repetition of such provocative publications". The OIC had previously demanded apologies and punishments for the artists and publishers, but instead the organization called on Muslims to exercise restraint and remain calm.

 
The parents of Madeleine, who has been missing for four months, are suing the Portuguese newspaper Tal e Qual for defamation. The newspaper had reported that the police believed the parents had accidentally killed the girl themselves. The newspaper also claimed that an accidental overdose of a drug may have caused the girl's death. The father of the missing Maddie told the BBC that the allegations were "outrageous". According to SDA, the father went on to say that the editors had not bothered with the facts. If the police had believed the newspaper, the parents would have become suspects. However, the investigators have always maintained that the family is not under suspicion.