Under the motto "Renzo helps Vladimir", the Swiss Protestant Churches' relief organization HEKS is campaigning together with ex-Mister Switzerland Renzo Blumenthal for support for farmers in the Third World and Eastern Europe. Renzo Blumenthal is an ambassador for the HEKS campaign "Farmers help farmers". Vladimir is a Moldovan farmer whom Renzo met during a trip with HEKS in the summer of 2006. The nationwide poster campaign starts on December 4 and will run for several weeks. The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness among the Swiss population of the importance of knowledge and education for development.

The church remains empty more and more often. But instead of simply standing idly by, some Reformed church congregations in Switzerland are now taking the initiative and want to make the place of worship more attractive again. Together with the free churches, they have joined forces to form the Swiss Evangelical Alliance (SEA) in order to curb the loss of members and are taking an unusual measure: the church is bringing another, typical Sunday activity into the house - football. During Euro 08, the SEA wants to broadcast the soccer games live on big screens in 500 churches. The initiators have already landed two major sponsors for the idea. And those who want to follow the games live in the stadium instead of in the church will not have to do without the church. So-called stadium churches are to be set up in Basel, Bern, Geneva and Zurich.

The viewer figures for the last three months allow the 3plus makers to look back on a successful first quarter. In November, an increase of 17% was recorded in primetime in the main target group of 15 to 49-year-olds, as the young TV channel announced on Sunday, which corresponds to an average market share of 2.7%. In Access Prime (5 p.m. to 8 p.m.), an increase of 55 percent market share was recorded.

The latest study by the Bern Institute for Applied Argument Research (IFAA) has named the best cantonal websites in Switzerland for the seventh time in a row. The canton of Glarus currently has the best online marketing, followed by Lucerne, Nidwalden and Zurich. In the survey, seven out of 26 websites were rated as measurably better. A further six cantons have improved slightly. According to the study, 13 have remained poor since the last survey in May 2006, including the cantons of Valais, Schwyz, Thurgau and Graubünden. With its periodic measurements on the Internet, the IFAA examines the impact of government websites worldwide. The study examines the extent to which supply and demand match on the Internet. The content of the websites is compared with data from over 20 different national and international search engines. The IFAA also examines how well these sites are structured technically. User-friendly linking and content aspects play just as important a role as changes in the overall scope. The most important new topics on the cantonal websites in the last six months mainly concern the state bodies and numerous offices. Various federal offices are linked directly with corresponding references much more frequently than before.

After Roger Schawinski announced his resignation from Sat.1 on Wednesday, he has already criticized SRG Director Armin Walpen over the TV fees. Resistance to the planned fee increase is also currently being voiced in parliament. Two weeks ago, Walpen threatened in the SonntagsZeitung that he would cut SRG programming if the Federal Council did not increase TV fees by 6.5 percent. Schawinski describes Walpen's statement in the current SonntagsZeitung as "very questionable". According to the radio pioneer and television producer, any broadcaster can massively reduce costs without cutting programs or reducing quality. At Sat.1, a third of the program costs amounting to CHF 300 million had been saved within four years. Schawinski also believes that something similar is possible at SRG.
Meanwhile, critical voices are also being raised in parliament. FDP National Councillor Rolf Hegetschweiler, for example, is calling on the Federal Council to reject a hearing on fees. According to him, the SRG should "get its costs under control itself". He plans to submit a postulate on the subject in the coming days. SVP finance expert Haus Kaufmann also wants to submit an interpellation calling on the federal government to "carefully examine the facts before the taxpayer is burdened with new compulsory fees".

For three weeks next summer, eight to twelve people are to live in a pile-dwelling village near Pfyn in Thurgau as they did 6000 years ago. But there is already resistance to the SF program. The planned location is in the middle of a nature reserve where a beaver has settled and an endangered dragonfly species lives. Outraged conservationists fear that dragonfly larvae could be trampled by the "pile dwellers". This is because the inhabitants of the village are said to bathe in their habitat, a body of standing water. SF spokesman Urs Durrer told the SonntagsZeitung that the television station was aware of the dragonfly species. Careful treatment of nature is part of the project. If SF receives conditions, these will of course be fulfilled.

In the Internet age, you can store for Christmas from the comfort of your own home. On Ricardo.ch, for example, there are many unique items available for purchase that make the perfect Christmas present. The Zurich agency Ruf Lanz dramatizes this message for its new client using the example of an eye-catching computer hand with a Santa Claus look. The motif can currently be seen full-page in the popular press.

The Zurich photo agency Sodapix is looking for the most beautiful portraits in a competition. Photographers are invited to submit their best work by December 31, when the creative web community will choose its favorite.  
The competition is open to portraits of women that are "stylish, fashionable, beautiful and in general", writes the photo agency in a press release. They are looking for high gloss, glamor and googly eyes. The submitted images will be hosted on the Sodapix website, where visitors will then select the winners from the submissions. The photographers whose pictures take the first three places will be richly rewarded: with great prizes and publication in a leading style magazine.

In this year's Christmas campaign, Schaffhausen's Radio Munot wants to raise 70,000 francs for a day clinic in Armenia. The project is managed by the Help for Armenia Foundation, which was set up by radio producers. The local radio station is raising support for the renovation of a day clinic in Proshian with campaigns such as biscuit and mulled wine sales, wish concerts and raffles. The approximately 5,000 inhabitants of the village are dependent on free help at the clinic. The money raised will be used to install a heating system and purchase equipment and medicines, the station announced at the start of the campaign on Friday. The foundation was established after the severe earthquake in 1988 and has already set up an orphanage and a children's hospital, as reported by SDA.

"Classe Politique" is the name of the new political program that will be broadcast during parliamentary sessions from 4 December. All SRG broadcasters are joining forces and producing the television debates under the same name and in the same format.  
The new format replaces the previous programs "Galerie des Alpes" (SF), "Session publique" (TSR) and "Camere Federali". This is the first time that Switzerland has a political television program on all three channels with the same name, as SDA writes. The programs will be produced in the new Federal Parliament studio of SRG SSR Idée Suisse. In terms of content, the concept does not differ significantly from previous programs: Politicians discuss the events of the session on camera.
 
The project was initiated by the heads of the information departments of the three broadcasters. Thanks to the new studio, synergies can now be exploited. The program will premiere on TSR on 4 December. In German-speaking Switzerland, "Classe Politique" will be shown for the first time on December 13, still hosted by Arena man Urs Leuthard.

The Webfactory of Swissinfo and Schweizer Radio International created the website as part of SRG SSR's 75th anniversary celebrations. Now it has won the Top Talent Award, the most important competition for multimedia projects in Europe.  
Since its foundation in 1931, SRG SSR has preserved thousands of video and audio documents. This material has now been made available to the public on the site in an audiovisual archive. The website includes sections on politics, society, business, culture, science and sport as well as everyday life in Switzerland.
 
Ideesuisse.ch has now been honored with first prize in the Broadband/Online category of the Europrix Top Talent Award 2006. The website was recognized for its exemplary content and user-friendly implementation. The award, which is supported by the European Commission, is the most prestigious in Europe for multimedia and e-content producers. This year, 318 projects from 29 European countries were submitted.

On Friday, the Swiss Press Council issued its assessment in three complaint cases. The complaint by a public prosecutor against the Sonntagszeitung was partially upheld, while that of former CVP spokeswoman Spring was rejected, as was a complaint by the St. Gallen Teachers' Association against the St. Galler Tagblatt.  
In an interview with the Kosovo-Albanian newspaper Lajim, the fugitive murderer justified his crime by saying that the teacher had raped his 14-year-old daughter. This was reproduced in the report on the interview in the St. Galler Tagblatt. The teachers' association objected to the uncommented reproduction, which suggested that the teacher had actually sexually abused the daughter. The privacy of the victim's family was also violated. The Press Council rejected the complaint because the report had been correctly classified. With regard to privacy, the Press Council stated that the report was certainly of public interest in view of the shocking crime, even though the crime took place several years ago. There was therefore no violation of privacy.
 
Former CVP communications chief Monika Spring's complaint against the NZZ am Sonntag and Sonntagszeitung newspapers was also rejected by the Press Council. Spring had complained that the newspapers had published private statements when they printed her criticism of the Catholic Church and the Pope and that she felt her privacy had been violated. The Press Council did not share this assessment and stated that media professionals may, under certain circumstances, assume that information is intended for the public. Spring's statements clearly fell within a political and professional context, the reasoning continued.
 
The complaint by a Zurich public prosecutor against the Sonntagszeitung was more successful. According to the complainant, his statement in connection with a supervisory complaint against him by Bank Vontobel should have been included in the article. The Sonntagsblatt had reported on the supervisory complaint filed by Bank Vontobel in connection with criminal proceedings against former executives of the bank. The methods of the Zurich public prosecutor's office were criticized. As the Press Council has now determined, the newspaper should not have been content with printing the denial of the complainant's superior, but should also have printed the statements on the serious allegations made by the complainant himself.