Over the past few days, the Olten Tagblatt newspaper has given away a total of 2.8 million francs to the people of Olten in the form of vouchers. The 56,000 vouchers worth 50 francs were distributed throughout the region last Saturday, the advertising company announced on Tuesday. The vouchers can be used to purchase an annual subscription to the Olten Tagblatt at a correspondingly lower price. Anyone who was unable to get hold of a voucher on Saturday received one in their letterbox on Monday morning: subscribers with an insert in the Oltner Tagblatt and non-subscribers with a mailing.

The shortlist for the Crossmedia Award initiated by Goldbach Media was drawn up by the jury headed by Dominique von Matt from 28 crossmedia works submitted. The jury agreed that the quality and professionalism of the submissions had increased significantly compared to the previous year. The works were judged on the criteria of intelligent linking, degree of innovation, creative implementation, track record and overall impression. The winners will be announced at the Mediarena 06 on May 17, 2006 at the WTC.

The shortlist in alphabetical order is as follows:

LoveLife - StopAids from Euro RSCG
Mammoth - Mary Woodbridge by Spillmann/Felser/Leo Burnett
SBB - Smoke-free from Jung von Matt/Limmat
SwisscomFixnet - Beck&Bondi from Contexta
SwisscomFixnet - BluewinTV from Jung von Matt/Limmat
Unilever - Fruitaholics by Jung von Matt/Limmat

The paper manufacturer Sappi achieved sales of USD 1,256 million in the first quarter of 2006 (previous year: USD 1,230 million). The operating result of USD 59 million was USD 4 million higher than in 2005. According to Sappi Chairman Eugene van As, the paper group is benefiting from strong growth in demand in its main markets. Capacity utilization is also at its highest level to date. However, the price increases achieved were diminished by the price increases for wood, energy, chemicals and pulp. A price increase of over 3% is required to offset these cost increases. However, Sappi Chairman Eugene van As intends to continue to improve the operating result through cost reductions and operational savings. The first effects should be noticeable towards the end of the financial year. In addition, no more business is to be conducted at an unprofitable level.

MetaDesign, the Zurich-based branding and corporate identity agency, has created the new online presence for lighting specialists iGuzzini. The Ticino-based family business from near Ascona has been working with MetaDesign for five years to design and implement its online strategy. During this time, the web presence has become increasingly important for the company, which is present in over 60 countries, in order to present its philosophy and products worldwide. The new web design will be presented at the European trade fair for architecture "Light + Building 2006".

Jürg Isler and Franz Kasperski are taking over production responsibility for the Swiss editorial teams of the 3sat formats "Kulturzeit" and "delta" with immediate effect. They succeed Marcus Burkhalter, who is retiring in the summer. Isler worked for several years as a journalist in the agency and newspaper sector in politics and culture. After moving to SF, he took over the management of program publications and the photo pool as deputy press officer. From 1985, he was ad interim head of the SF press for two years, then worked as an editor at 3sat Switzerland and has been editor and deputy producer of "Kulturzeit" since 1996. Isler is also a member of the Swiss Unesco Commission. Franz Kasperski has worked as an assistant director and director at 14 theaters in three countries. For the past six years, he has been working as an author for 3sat's "Kulturzeit". As a lecturer, he teaches at the Zurich University of Art and Design (HGKZ), among others. The Swiss 3sat editorial team is responsible for the Swiss contributions to the two 3sat formats "Kulturzeit" and "delta".

On Tuesday, the Grand Council of the Canton of Ticino approved a credit of CHF 32 million for tourism advertising for the period up to 2009. The CHF 8 million earmarked for marketing, which the Lega and SP wanted to reduce to CHF 1 million, was controversial. The dual role of Cantonal Councillor Marina Masoni as Ticino's Finance Director and President of the Ticino Tourist Office also gave rise to discussion. Several speakers were of the opinion that the dual function led to a conflict of interest. Masoni did not take part in the Council debate due to illness caused by her back injury.

After a successful 2005, the first quarter of 2006 also got off to a very successful start: The media group was able to increase its quarterly profit by 41.2 percent to EUR 67.2 million, while sales in its core business rose by 2.1 percent and advertising revenues by 5.1 percent to EUR 241.7 million. The Hamburger Abendblatt, TV digital, Bild der Frau, Sport Bild and Bild.T-Online.de, among others, contributed to this pleasing development. In addition to the sustained good advertising business of the Bild Group, the Welt Group also succeeded in further strengthening its market position. The combined circulation of Welt and Welt Kompakt rose by 13 percent to 252,000 copies in the first quarter of 2006. CEO Mathias Döpfner expects further growth in the medium term from the new initiatives in Germany and abroad, in print and online, which have been launched in recent weeks. As Springer announced on Tuesday, the financial framework conditions for successful expansion were further improved in the first quarter.

The Swiss Press Council rejects the complaint of the health department of the canton of Zug against the SonntagsBlick supplement Sie+Er. A report on suicides that mentions and depicts the scene of the crime is permissible as an exception if the suicides committed there have caused a public stir and triggered at least regional discussion, the Press Council justifies its decision. Suicide reporting
Although it must be restrained and respect the privacy of those affected and their relatives, it is permitted if its primary purpose is to demand structural measures to counter the attraction of the crime scene. In October 2005, Sie+Er published a report with text and pictures on the repeated suicides at the Lorzentobel Bridge in the canton of Zug. The magazine called on the cantonal authorities to install safety nets on the bridge. The Zug Health Directorate lodged an appeal against this with the Press Council. She+He had not adhered to the restrictive recommendations on suicide reporting and had increased the risk of imitation. The Press Council has now rejected this complaint.

Switzerland Tourism and Reka have initiated an Internet portal for vacation apartments in Switzerland, which has been realized by the Bern-based cross-media agency Maxomedia. Maxomedia is also responsible for future maintenance. The portal, which was presented on May 4 at the Swiss Holiday Day in St. Gallen, will include 15,000 vacation apartments at launch. The launch will therefore also be accompanied by the core message "1 portal. 15,000 vacation rentals." to accompany it.

Advertising is generally not permitted along highways. In the summer of 2004, the fuel company Agrola had advertised with its logo on a field on the A1 in Grauholz near Bern and was stopped by the cantonal building authorities. Agrola then appealed to the Administrative Court with the aim of obtaining equal treatment for all field advertising throughout Switzerland. The decision of the administrative court was negative. However, according to a press release issued on Tuesday, Agrola has now decided not to appeal the decision of the Bern Administrative Court to the Federal Supreme Court.

Ringier and Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) want to reorganize the ownership structure of Good News Productions. Ringier wants a 43 percent stake and a voting majority in Good News in future, DEAG is to reduce its stake to 52 percent and the managing director André Béchir is to retain 5 percent as before. DEAG previously held a 90 percent stake in Good News. Ringier announced on Tuesday that the reallocation is to take place in the sense of a long-term partnership. The event organizer Good News was founded in 1970 and organizes 80 to 100 events each year with around 800,000 visitors. With 20 employees, it generates a turnover of CHF 50 million.

Shortly after the presentation of the Swiss Blog Awards, the next weblog competition, "The Golden Mouse", is already on the agenda. In contrast to the Swiss Blog Award, which was awarded by the public, an expert jury will select the winners of "Die Goldene Maus". They have already made the nominations and selected several blogs in five categories. The winners of each category will be announced at the awards ceremony on May 18, 2006 at 5 p.m. at the Orbit-iEX trade fair for Internet communication and will each receive a prize of CHF 4,000. The "Golden Mouse" competition is organized by the Milton Ray Hartmann Foundation. It was originally set up to promote the integration of information and communication technology in education. To date, the best Swiss CD-ROM production, the best media website and the best website have been honored with the "Golden Mouse":
Politics
Commentaires.com - Le magazine contre le Néo-conformisme, www.commentaires.com
LudovicMonnerat.com, www.ludovicmonnerat.com
rebell.tv, rebell.tv
Un Swissroll, www.swissroll.info
Une voix pour la Boillat, www.laboillat.blogspot.com
Culture
BANDS Magazine, www.bandsmagazine.ch
Mezzanine floor, www.hochparterre.ch
Nerve poison, nervengift.kaywa.ch
Experience tea, tee.kaywa.com
Education
La Classe, www.hebdo.ch/formationblog.cfm
Learning paths through the e-learning jungle, elch.blogs.com/lernpfade
netzlernen.ch, netzlernen.kaywa.ch
Le Semeur, http://p7app.geneve.ch:8007/lesemeur
Life
Blogwiese, www.blogwiese.ch
Le Bondy Blog, blogs.hebdo.ch/bondy
Dans la cuisine des Frangines, miam.over-blog.net
MariaPia, www.mariapia.blogs.com
Specialist topics
blog 2.0, www.greenpit.ch/blogwordpress
Lunch over IP, giussani.typepad.com
namics weblog, blog.namics.com
Terra Incognita, www.terraincognita.ch
textually.org, textually.org
To the round leather, fussballblog.espace.ch