Blick is allowed to refer to former FCB player Christian Gimenez as Judas without violating the ban on discrimination. This was the conclusion reached by the Swiss Press Council. The terms Judas and traitor are recognizable as an evaluation and the harsh criticism is permissible within the scope of freedom of comment, according to the Press Council's statement. Furthermore, the Press Council does not see the term Judas as a blanket disparagement of the Jews. Beyond the context of the Bible, it refers to someone who acts unfaithfully towards another. The reason for Blick's choice of words was the footballer's short-term transfer from FCB to the French club Olympique Marseille.

At the end of May, the Schauspielhaus Zürich, in collaboration with the Zurich advertising agency Jung von Matt/Limmat, is bringing the most common Swiss living room to the stage. Director Christiane Pohle is staging a scenic evening entitled "The Living Room" on Stage 5. Together with actors, musicians, amateurs and philosophers, Pohle is thus reacting to the Zurich agency's project. In 2005, Jung von Matt/Limmat researched the most common Swiss living room on the basis of statistics, qualitative studies, expert interviews and home visits and recreated and furnished it 1:1 in their agency premises. This now serves the agency as a meeting room and inspirational backdrop. The aim is to develop creative concepts for successful campaigns in an authentic environment.

SonntagsBlick made drastic assessments based on meagre facts, the Press Council ruled in a statement published on Tuesday. In its reporting on the trials of paraplegic doctor Guido Zäch, the Press Council has partially approved a complaint by Zäch's opponent Marc F. Suter. The SonntagsBlick had exceeded the limits of freedom of comment and omitted important elements. By emphasizing secondary aspects, the legally illiterate public had been exposed to the risk of taking Zäch's and the newspaper's evidence at face value. The Press Council came to the conclusion that SonntagsBlick's reporting wrongly suggested that the judgment of the first instance Basel Criminal Court was essentially based on false statements by Marc F. Suter.

Zurich-based production company Pumpkin Film has two new directors on board. The directing duo "Ramon & Pedro", made up of Laurent Fauchère and Antoine Tinguely from French-speaking Switzerland, have made a name for themselves in particular for their strong acting and classic storytelling. Fauchère and Tinguely worked together in a 3D animation studio in New York and began making music videos and commercials alongside their work. Fauchère and Tinguely have made numerous commercials for clients such as Visa, Citroën, AOL, Panasonic and Diesel.

The Press Council approves complaints against "20 Minuten" and "Freiburger Nachrichten". In October, "20 Minuten" published a short report on a police operation against drug dealers: "Among those arrested are 28 black Africans, two Swiss, two Vietnamese and one Italian." In November, the "Freiburger Nachrichten" reported on a criminal case against an unnamed "30-year-old black African". The association CRAN (Carrefour de réflexion et d'action contre le racisme anti-noir en Suisse) complained to the Press Council about these reports, which were likely to expose dark-skinned Africans to the worst prejudices. Both editorial offices admitted in statements that they had not taken sufficient account of the problem of discrimination when formulating the texts, but rejected the accusation of latent racism. In its statement on Tuesday, the Press Council upheld both complaints. The unnecessary generalization of the accused as "black Africans" in the criminal reporting was likely to promote prejudices against dark-skinned people and thus at least latently discriminate against them. In its statement, the Press Council points out that crime reporting should avoid even latently discriminatory generalizations, which requires careful consideration in the choice of terms in individual cases. In the case of "Freiburger Nachrichten", it would have been possible to mention the nationality; in the case of "20 Minuten", the term "Afrikaner" would have satisfied the need for information.

Südostschweiz and Schaffhauser Nachrichten will have a new look from May 2006. In the case of Südostschweiz, the previously dominant blue has given way to more subtle colors on the front page. In addition, the paper is consistently divided into two parts. The first section contains regional news, including sport in the region and culture. The second section contains the national and international sections. Südostschweiz is thus also fit for Südostschweiz am Sonntag, which will appear in the same layout for the first time next weekend, writes Editor-in-Chief Andrea Masüger. The Schaffhauser Nachrichten will now appear in a more colorful layout. In addition, the newspaper says it wants to increase its reporting from the region.

The sports section of the Bund was closed at the end of April and the planned cost-cutting measures were implemented. From the issue of Tuesday, May 2, the Bund will be published with the sports section of the Berner Zeitung. In mid-May, a book entitled "Ich habe einen neuen Ball" (I have a new ball) will be published to commemorate the independent sports section of the Bund. It will contain the best of the 200 or so columns that have appeared in the "Querpass" section since 1997.

The first Romanian free newspaper "Compact" will be published in Bucharest on May 2. As the international media company Ringier announced on Monday, the company is thus expanding further into the growing market for free newspapers. With a circulation of 150,000 copies, the newspaper will reach a readership of 300,000 people in Bucharest, a city of 2 million. The newspaper will be distributed early in the morning on commuter routes in 230 boxes and by colporteurs and will contain the most important news in short form on 16 four-color pages. The layout is fashionable and fresh and aimed at the urban target audience under 30. Compact is produced by a 30-strong team of 20 journalists. Editor-in-chief is Laurentiu Ciocazanu, one of Romania's most renowned journalists. This is Ringier's second free newspaper, following the launch of the Prague-based free newspaper 24hodin in November. Ringier has also announced the launch of the free newspaper "heute" in Zurich, Basel and Berne on May 15.

The Swiss folklore magazine Alpenrosen presents itself on May 1st with a revised design and editorial improvements. Folk music is given a higher profile. Launched three years ago from the Schweizer Musiker Revue and the VVK folk event calendar under the name Alpenrose, the folklore magazine has developed successfully in recent years. The number of pages has increased by 47 percent, while the number of subscribers and the volume of advertisements have increased many times over, according to the communiqué.

The overall winner was Michael Hagedorn from Hamburg, silver went to Swiss sports photographer Peter Scheider from Thun and bronze was won by Alexandra Wey from Zug. Hagedorn won the award with a motif from the calendar project "with body and soul". Schneider impressed with his football motif "Disunited" and Wey received the award for her photo "Powerless", which was taken during the floods last August. The Press Photo Award was presented for the tenth time. Around 300 photographers submitted around 1000 photos in various categories, with 30 photographers from Switzerland, Austria and Germany nominated.

Four new marketing communications mandates have been added to the Zug-based PR agency's client portfolio: La Roche-Posay, Champagne Ruinart, Kaspar-Bespoke Stationers and SodaStream Penguin. For the cosmetics brand La Roche-Posay, the agency is supporting the market launch of a new product with classic media work. The luxury brand Champagne Ruinart is looking for support in comprehensive product PR. Kaspar-Bespoke Stationers is a new product in the luxury goods sector that will be supported during its market launch in the fall. And since March, the agency has been working on the product launch of SodaStream Penguin, a new sparkling water maker.

Max Akermann replaces Peter Wüthrich after ten years at the helm of the SwissMail interest group. The new President is Managing Director of Prisma Medienservice AG, St. Gallen. Danièle Krempp (ADZ Agentur für Direktwerbung AG) and René Bill (Board of Directors of AWZ AG) are also members of the SwissMail Board. SwissMail was founded in 1996 as an interest group of the leading private Swiss contracting organizations. The twelve member companies are active throughout Switzerland with their distribution organizations and serve 2.4 million households with around 4,000 distribution couriers. In addition to the pure delivery business, the member companies offer various services relating to direct mail, including logistics, lettershop, goods handling, storage and transportation.