The proposal of the National Council's Political Institutions Committee (SPK) to continue the system of indirect press subsidies by reducing postal taxes is welcomed by a clear majority of those taking part in the consultation.  
The SPK is now submitting the bill to the National Council for discussion in the spring session. This should allow the system of reduced transport costs, which expires at the end of the year, to continue seamlessly. However, the SPK has also taken critical objections seriously and is aware that new, better solutions must be sought. The bill will therefore be limited to seven years, as stated in a press release from Parliament.
 
The federal government compensates Swiss Post with CHF 80 million annually so that it can offer preferential prices to subscribers of newspapers and magazines. With an amendment to the Postal Services Act, the SPK wants to continue this subsidy, which is limited until the end of 2007. Swiss Post should continue to be obliged to grant preferential prices at the current level, for which it will in future be compensated by the Confederation to the tune of CHF 60 million per year. In addition, CHF 20 million per year is to be made available for further concessions for the transportation of small-volume items.

The one-dollar coin has not yet really grown on Americans. That is set to change: On Thursday, the US Mint launched its new one-dollar coins with nationwide advertising campaigns. A new series, in which a former US president appears on the reverse of the coin every 12 months, was launched last Thursday. The first coin features US founding president George Washington, with the Statue of Liberty in New York on the reverse, followed by John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. By 2016, citizens will have presidential dollars with the likenesses of the first 37 heads of state in their wallets, as reported by the SDA.

News.ch is the first Swiss website to launch the Sitebar advertising medium for NOKIA. The new, large-format advertising opportunity was developed in a cooperation between Mediacom Vienna and eProjects. The new advertising medium adapts dynamically to the window size of the web browser. The advertising message is thus effectively staged in an overwhelming size in the space to the right of the actual website, which is often empty in today's standard screen resolutions. In addition, the advertising message scrolls along and remains in the field of vision without disturbing the site content. The site bar will be visible on News.ch from Monday, February 19 and on Wetter.ch from Tuesday, February 20 and can initially be booked on a daily or weekly basis on the respective home pages. This will enable a large number of contacts to be made on the popular news portal within a very short space of time. According to a press release, News.ch hopes to open up a new opportunity for its customers and agencies.

Ms. Lesnik joined *Die Weltwoche* in February of last year as regional sales manager and deputy advertising director; she is now taking on the role of advertising director. A federally certified PR specialist, she has many years of experience in sales, marketing, and advertising. Her career has included various positions, such as in advertising sales at Tamedia and WM Wirtschafts-Medien. She also worked at the SonntagsZeitung as advertising director and deputy publishing director.

With Digital Media, Assai offers a new service in addition to marketing and corporate communications. With Digital Media, the Zurich-based agency covers all competencies relating to the planning and execution of online advertising campaigns. This includes banner campaigns, search engine advertising and affiliate marketing, as Assai writes in a press release. Specialists develop customized online media strategies under the direction of Maurizio Rugghia, who offers his expertise in the field of digital media in the development and marketing of search engines and e-commerce platforms. 

The only radio station in Switzerland for the visually impaired, Radio Blind Power, has a new look. The radio station has a new logo and is expanding with new formats. A new 1 1/2 hour live show on Thursday evenings and a show on Fridays with Swiss and electronic music have been added. On Thursday evenings after ten, a program produced by house DJ Stefano Prada goes out over the airwaves. 

McCann-Erickson is promoting Microsoft's latest operating system with a huge advertising campaign. The campaign for Window Vista is present in all media. TV commercials, a cinema spot with a laser show in front of it and numerous advertisements are being placed. Large-format posters and redesigned streetcars and buses await commuters and travelers to get them excited about the new Windows.

It is not always easy for freelance journalists to get their articles published. A Comedia training course gives media professionals tips on how to better place articles. After all, good writing is only one prerequisite for gaining a foothold. Selling the text correctly is just as important. Pieter Poldervaart will lead the one-day course on March 22 and help participants to improve their own sales techniques.

Canadian journalist and designer Tyler Bûlé has founded a new news magazine. The first edition of Monocle is published today, Thursday. With Monocle, Brûlé is once again trying to fill a gap, as he did with Wallpaper in the mid-nineties. While there was no magazine for people with a taste for design back then, there is currently no news magazine that appeals to readers who travel to different countries every week for their work. Monocle is aimed at opinion leaders who are well educated and have a high income, according to the news magazine's press release. The magazine is based on five subject areas: International Politics, Economy, Culture, Design and Consumer Tips. Brûlé has been able to recruit renowned journalists for the editorial team, with whom he aims to produce a high-quality magazine. It will be published ten times a year with 250 pages. The cover story of the first Monocle is an 18-page report on the Japanese navy.

Christoph Zimmer will take over as Head of Corporate Communications at Tamedia in March. Zimmer has already headed the department ad interim since September 2006. He has been working for Tamedia since the summer of 2006. After completing his journalism and communications studies at the University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur, he was editor at DRS online and completed a lengthy internship at the news magazine Facts.

Maxomedia has come up with something very special for a recruitment campaign on its own behalf. A job advertisement in programming language, which is incomprehensible to the average person but all the more appealing to the intended target audience - Flash developers who are familiar with the Actionscript programming language and would like to work for Maxomedia - is emblazoned on the company's own balcony. As the CEO of Maxomedia writes in a press release, it is very difficult to find suitable Flash developers in Switzerland. The Maxomedia office is located directly above the Polybahn and, as it is known to be frequented by many ETH students, nothing would be more obvious than recruiting on the company's own premises, Roman Hirsbrunner adds.

The Federal Competition Commission has given its approval to Radio Vision, the joint sales company of Radio Basel 1, Radio Basilisk and Radio Regenbogen. The three radio stations have joined forces and founded a joint sales company as of January 1, 2007 (see ). The Managing Director of Radio Vision is Silvana Imperiali, previously CEO of Radio Basel 1 Werbe and RPB Radio Pool Basel. Sales Director of the new company will be Peter Ulmann, previously Head of Sales at Medag.