On January 1, 2007, prescription drugs may no longer be advertised throughout Switzerland. In the canton of Thurgau, advertising for high-proof spirits will be banned from this year, and there's a row at Corvatsch over an advertising slide for the Engadin mountain railroads.  
Heritage and landscape conservationists are up in arms against the 163-by-163 advertising message that has been projected onto the northern slope of Corvatsch since December 27. They criticize the enormous power consumption, light pollution and the commercialization of the Alpine world as well as the damage to impressive mountain landscapes. The campaign has a worrying symbolic effect, and advertising should not be at the expense of nature. Both organizations and several politicians are therefore calling for an immediate halt to the night-time illumination approved by the municipality of Silvaplana. To be continued.
 
Advertising restrictions for pharmaceuticals and alcohol There is nothing more to discuss when it comes to the ban on advertising prescription drugs. Such advertising on paper or billboards has been banned for some time, and since the beginning of the year pharmaceutical manufacturers have also had to adhere to this rule on the Internet. The aim of the ban is to separate advertising and information. Compliance with the new law is monitored by Swissmedic. Meanwhile, the canton of Thurgau has banned advertising for two legal and freely available substances: Tobacco and high-proof alcoholic beverages may no longer be advertised on posters. Advertising for beer, wine and, of course, cider is still permitted.

What do Appenzellers and Albanians have in common? Both population groups are generally rather poorly integrated and not exactly known as pioneers in women's issues. But both have media projects that are specifically tailored to their needs. The Appenzellers have already implemented theirs with the news portal Appenzell24, while the Albanians are planning one hour of TV programming per week.  
Albanians living in Switzerland are now to be integrated through television programs - this is the idea of Geneva National Councillor Ueli Leuenberger. And this has already taken shape: The Kosovar TV station RTK, which can be received in this country via satellite, is ready to broadcast the programs. According to SDA, two pilot editions have already been filmed. They are reports filmed in Switzerland by Albanian journalists. They deal with topics such as the everyday life of integrated families or the Swiss school system. Only the financing is still open: 80,000 Swiss francs are being sought.
 
The people of Appenzell have already overcome such problems. They have set up the first local Internet news portal in Switzerland and are thus outing themselves as real trendsetters. According to a report in the SonntagsZeitung, local news is extremely popular: every third Google query is local. As a local Goliath, Appenzell24 has a good chance of competing vigorously with the global Davids Google et all. The portal should be in the black by the end of 2007 thanks to advertising.

The former editorial director of NZZ Online, project manager of the Swiss television news portal and publisher of Medienspiegel.ch has set up his own business.  
With his recently founded consulting boutique KonverMedia, Martin Hitz supports companies and institutions in the conception and implementation of journalistic online projects. The company founder can draw on his ten years of experience as head of media projects in the Internet sector. Most of these projects involved the combination or convergence of traditional (print, TV) and new media and required a great deal of familiarity with the editorial workflows and production processes of both traditional and new media. Other konverMedia services include the evaluation and optimization of existing web offerings and trend scouting in the field of new media. konverMedia also intends to develop and operate its own journalistic Internet projects. KonverMedia's services are also aimed at companies outside the media industry, institutions and public administration.

From January 3 to February 2, 2007, large-format posters by students of the graphic design class at the Lucerne School of Art and Design will line the square in front of the Lucerne Theater.  
What problems are troubling young people, what hopes do they have? Students of the HGK Lucerne provide answers to these questions on thematically and formally freely designed posters. In their works, the students use images, words, quotes and observations to express what concerns them and make striking and surprising statements. The HGK Lucerne organized this project in collaboration with APG Zentralschweiz, which is sponsoring the posters free of charge as part of its cultural sponsorship. The ten best posters will be judged and presented on the square in front of the Lucerne Theater. In this way, the poster becomes the bearer of an individual message about society, providing both an impetus and an invitation.

The advertising industry continued to gain momentum at the end of last year. The figures compiled by Goldbach Medien and Wemf for November show some major leaps in growth.  
The Goldbach Electronic Media Index (GEMI) once again shows a jump in growth for electronic advertising media: for November, the index shows an overall increase of six index points. All media grew by a total of three points in November. The index is based on the data published by Media Focus for advertising investments in Switzerland and Wemf's advertising expenditure statistics for Adscreen with index 100 in December 2004.
 
Investments in ad screen advertising grew the most, namely by 12 points to 226. Internet advertising also increased strongly, with the index jumping by 11 points to 247. Television advertising also increased, with values climbing by eight points to 352. Teletext even benefited from the favourable economic climate, rising by five points to 145 after a long dry spell. Radio advertising was the only area to record no growth, with values remaining at 250 points.
 
Consumer electronics as a driving force  
The figures from Wemf also paint a positive picture: advertising sales in the Swiss media reached CHF 410 million in November. This represents a year-on-year increase of 13.4%. The consumer electronics sector saw particularly strong growth of 44.8%, clothing 40.8% and the media 40.5%. The cosmetics, transport, telecommunications and beverages sectors also all recorded growth rates of well over 20%. Only the pharmaceutical sector invested less, recording a drop of 12.8%. The monthly Wemf survey is based on sales figures from print, TV, billboard, radio, cinema, teletext, online advertising and Adscreen.

The year 2006 set a sad record for war reporters: never since the end of the Second World War have so many media professionals lost their lives in the course of their work.  
As reported by the SDA, the non-governmental organization Campaign for a Press Emblem (PEC) counted 94 journalists killed last year. In contrast, the French aid organization Reporters Without Borders counted 81 media representatives killed. Other organizations, such as the International Federation of Journalists, counted many more murdered.
 
For the fourth time in a row, Iraq was the most dangerous place to work for journalists, but reporters were also killed in 20 other countries. According to the PEC, eight media representatives died in Mexico and four in Russia. Sri Lanka, Colombia and Pakistan are also classified as particularly dangerous. According to Reporters Without Borders, a total of 56 journalists were abducted in 2006. The number of journalists imprisoned, attacked or threatened reached an all-time high of more than 2,000, with the numerous election campaigns in 2006 cited as the reason.

The new year is in the starting blocks, the Werbewoche online editorial team is back in place and Britney Spears is back - as is Justin Timberlake. But it wasn't just the tabloids that came up with big news, no, at the end of last year a whole series of small media revolutions got rolling: the NZZ suddenly started talking only about reader-friendliness and the traditional Swiss publishing house Jean Frey was sold to Germany. The first consequences are now becoming apparent: Filippo Leutenegger becomes a free newspaper publisher.  
With his new free publication "Neue Ideen. Das Magazin rund ums Haus", Leutenegger wants to address a select readership. He is aiming for a circulation of one million. According to the SDA, the 65-page first issue is now available. The magazine is structured in the sections "Inside", "Outside" and "All around". It covers topics such as bathroom culture, fountains, sofas, moving house, prefabricated houses and mortgages. For the time being, however, there is only dummy text to read. Neue Ideen" will be officially launched in June, with an initial print run of 700,000 copies.
 
The outgoing CEO of Jean-Frey came to his new hobbyhorse as a result of the sale of his media company to the German Axel Springer. On December 19 of last year, the largest German newspaper publisher (Bild, Die Welt) took over the Beobachter, Bilanz and TV-Star titles for 139.3 million Swiss francs. Even before that, Weltwoche was completely spun off from Jean Frey and sold in its entirety to Roger Köppel's Weltwoche Verlags AG.

The American search engine giant is expanding its business activities in China. The company has announced that it is now teaming up with the Chinese mobile phone provider China Mobile.  
In China Mobile, Google has found a strong partner for the Chinese market: the company is the undisputed industry leader with over 300 million customers. Google will now provide China Mobile with online search technology from the first few months of the new year, as reported by SDA last Thursday. This will give Google a market share of 16 percent in the second-largest Internet market after the USA with 120 million users.

As of April 1, 2007, Barbara Lienhard will be the new head of the media office and media spokesperson for Young Swiss Television. The 29-year-old was previously an editor at SonntagsBlick and Schweizer Illustrierte. She entered journalism after successfully completing her studies at the SAL School of Applied Linguistics. From April 1, 2007, Lienhard will be responsible for public relations and national media contacts at 3+.

Migros' three regional language magazines, Azione, Migros-Magazin and Migros-Magazine, now offer advertising combinations called Kombinazione.  
With the launch of Kombinazione, Migros Media is further optimizing the booking options for its three titles. National customers benefit from a combined discount of 13 percent. The advertising team at Migros-Maganzin, headed by Reto Feuer, is attracting an impressive reach of over 50 percent, or over three million readers every week. In figures: the two Migros magazines together reach over 2'917'000 readers. This includes 1'658'286 copies in German (Migros-Magazin) and 533'355 copies in French (Migros-Magazine). This makes the two Migros magazines among the titles with the widest reach in the Swiss print business. In addition, Azione, the weekly newspaper of Migros Ticino, now has a combined circulation of 100,188.

"Shaping the future" - this is the slogan with which the University of Art and Design Zurich (HGKZ) is advertising its information days from January 16 - 18, 2007.  
The HGKZ offers a unique range of study opportunities in the fields of design, art, media, film and the communication of design and art. With around 1,000 students, it is the largest and most versatile art college in Switzerland. From Tuesday, January 16 to Thursday, January 18, 2007, people interested in studying at the HGKZ can get an idea of the school and the three-year Bachelor of Arts degree courses in Design, Media & Art, Film and Communication of Design and Art at events, open studios and open days. Lecturers and students present the wide range of courses on offer.

The 26-year-old Andrea Kreuzer has been the press spokeswoman for Swiss International Air Lines since January 1 of this year.  
The communicator FH has been working for the Swiss media office for over a year. In addition to her role as media spokesperson, she is primarily responsible for PR projects. Kreuzer completed her studies in journalism and corporate communications at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Winterthur in 2005. According to Swiss, the previous spokesperson Jürg Dinner will continue to head Corporate Communications.