Publishers Does Alexandra Jahr need to find a new name for her Jahr & Co VIP Media Verlag, which publishes Golf & Country, Petri Heil and Kavallo? The aircraft engineer bought the publishing house from Urs H. Dillier on January 1, 2004, including the diving magazine Aquanaut. He is now also launching a new golf magazine at the end of March (see page 15): Alexandra Jahr and Dillier fell out in May 2003. As a result, majority shareholder Jahr took over Dillier's 25 percent share in the joint company. However, because the rights to the VIP Media Verlag name remained with Dillier, Jahr chose the new name Jahr & Co. VIP Media Verlag.
Ruf is convinced that this will lead to confusion. He is now looking for an amicable solution with Alexandra Jahr. If this does not come about, he will take legal action.
(dse)

Magazine After last year's premiere with the "1000 best Internet addresses", the Hamburg-based Milchstrasse publishing house has followed up this Monday with a special issue on the world's largest online marketplace, which, under the motto "Three, two, one ... mine!", serves up a mixture of entertainment and service stories about the Ebay cult. In addition to success stories from collectors and bargain hunters, the 108-page magazine, which costs CHF 19, also includes a CD with the latest auction software. As with the last Tomorrow-Extra, the print run distributed throughout the German-speaking world is 70,000 copies.

Media and PR What about credibility (in) the communications industry? Journalists and PR experts gave different answers to this crucial question at the "2nd Communication Summit".
"Credibility is the key currency for both of us." Karl Lüönd, journalist and head of the Media Institute of the Swiss Press Association, found a short formula for the common resource and objective of media professionals and PR professionals right at the beginning of his opening speech. This identified the lowest common denominator between the two professional groups, but also exhausted it. Because the representatives of the two communication worlds were only partially in agreement last Tuesday at the Ringier Press House about which truth - or rather truths - should be used to (re)gain this credibility. At the event organized by the Zurich Public Relations Society and the Zurich Press Association (ZPV), the focus was once again on "the still dysfunctional relationship" between media and PR people, as Lüönd stated, in addition to the official topic.
Argumentative ping pong
The panel moderated by ZPV board member Reto Lipp only made a limited contribution to the required relaxation of the community of purpose of neutral and interest-driven communicators. Maja Amrein, owner of Flow Communications, accused the media of only considering content that sells well to be true. Communications consultant and Tamedia board member Iwan Rickenbacher, on the other hand, argued that "mistrust of media institutions has increased."
The editors-in-chief of Blick and SonntagsZeitung, Werner de Schepper and Andreas Durisch, localized credibility deficits - unsurprisingly as representatives of journalism - mainly in the PR sector. De Schepper lamented the increasing dilution of communicative substance by the growing number of PR people "dancing around" in business and administration. And Andreas Durisch emphasized that instead of open, authentic communication, "pure façade wiping" is often practiced, especially in times of crisis.
Some concessions
However, conciliatory tones were also struck. Durisch noted, not without envy, that high-quality products were being produced in the area of corporate communications with the "money that has always been plentiful there". Ri-ckenbacher, on the other hand, referred to the progress in quality in the press: "In the past, i.e. in the days of the party press, the truth was suppressed more frequently and, above all, more systematically than it is today."
Amrein and de Schepper, on the other hand, were comparatively self-critical. The Blick boss (and theologian) went on record to say that there is no "static edifice of truth", especially for a tabloid, but at most "truthfulness". "We want to portray something as it could really be." Communications expert Amrein was infected by this frankness and confessed that although she has never lied in her work, she has sometimes deliberately "only illuminated one aspect of the whole". There will probably still be the one
It may take a communication summit or two for the viewpoints and perspectives of the two industry partners to converge. But after all, "truth" in the never-ending public communication process is only ever "the truth at a certain point in time", as Blick boss de Schepper put it almost philosophically.
Two perspectives on the same reality: journalists and PR people.

"Caution when dealing with the truth "Peter Studer, President of the Press Council, on the different
Mission of media and PR.
WW Mr. Studer, the communication industry's self-diagnosis at its Zurich summit was "acute loss of credibility". Do you agree?
Peter Studer That's a very vague assertion. I prefer to base my opinion on empirical evidence rather than sensitivities. And there was a recent survey in Germany, for example, which showed that the credibility of the media has not declined significantly.
Communications consultant Maja Amrein accuses the media of only
to regard as true what brings quotas or circulation.
This thesis can be contrasted with data from a 2001 study of almost 2000 journalists in Switzerland. 92 percent of those surveyed subscribe to the self-image of the neutral reporter who depicts reality. In this survey, only 21 percent see themselves as marketers who want to sell a product that is in demand in the most profitable way possible.
So can the media and their pursuit of the truth be given a good report card?
The concept of truth should be used with caution. I prefer to talk about truthfulness, i.e. the search for truth. Compared to the past, there has actually been an increase in quality here. Today's journalists are trying harder than 40 years ago to get to the bottom of the facts. However, the increasing competitive pressure between the individual media is exacerbating the tendency towards thesis journalism. There is a danger that journalistic principles such as the principle of fairness will be violated.
How do you assess the situation in the area of public relations and PR?
Basically, you have to be aware that journalists and PR people have a different mission. PR people are mercenaries in the service of a company or authority, while journalists are committed to the public. However, good communication professionals have recognized that they too should be committed to truthfulness - at least in the sense that they refrain from actively lying. After all, if their credibility is tarnished, this ultimately damages their client.
Interview: Patrick Steinemann
Patrick Steinemann

Press agencies The press service News Aktuell Schweiz is cooperating with AG für Wirtschaftspublikationen (AWP) for the distribution of its "original text reports", and News Aktuell has been supplying the Swiss business news agency with business and ad hoc reports since the beginning of February. AWP publishes these online in

Markus Marchel, a chef and publishing specialist, markets a tasty mix of advertising options.Anyone taking a cab to the airport for a flight to the world with Swiss will in future come into contact with two new products from "marchel g...media". With his newly founded company in Windisch, Markus Marchel exclusively markets national advertising on cabs. And the radio spots on the in-flight channels of Swiss, introduced in January, can also be booked exclusively with him. "I had to come up with something and was looking for promising products," Markus Marchel comments on his professional situation when his supposed dream job at the Hotelier Verein vanished into thin air after only a few months last summer.
The trained chef and then advertising manager at the Beobachter found it "an ideal constellation" when the Hotelier Verein offered him top responsibility as sales manager for all print products from Hotel Revue to Café Bistro. Unfortunately, the media specialist quickly discovered that these publications had been in the red for years. So it was "a logical decision of the association" that these titles were discontinued.
Of course, in this unexpected situation, the passionate cook thought about opening his own pub. But that would not have been a sensible solution for his wife and three daughters.
Not only more family-friendly, but also economically more promising seemed to the publishing man the foundation of the sole proprietorship "marchel g...media". Since January, he has been operating from this address in a beautiful Windisch villa with a park. René Schärli's TWS Taxi Werbung Schweiz is located in the same building. No coincidence, because TWS is the most important new client of "marchel g...media". As a sales partner with exclusive rights for national customers, Markus Marchel wants to play a significant role in the development of this new advertising opportunity. Locally, this type of advertising has existed for some time. What is new with TWS is that all available Swiss cabs can be booked via a central location.
For its second exclusive medium, Swiss Radio, Marchel has entered into a distribution partnership with Harry Müller's Radio Factory. In addition to in-flight programming on Swiss medium- and long-haul flights, the company also produces contributions for Radio Tropic - the third medium for which "marchel g...media" acquires advertising as a distribution partner. marchel g...media" also has more than just a finger in the pie at Gastro Facts. On the on-line portal of the catering trade at present 650 companies offer their B2B advertisement. In May, a print edition will be launched as a handy C5 guide, in cooperation with Salz & Technik and the industry exhibition IGEHO of Messe Basel. And as if there weren't enough a la carte menus simmering, Marchel plans to help organize the first "Best of Swiss Gastro" award at Zurich's Music Hall in September.
He can only manage all these tasks because he has built up a multi-layered network of relationships over the course of his career. The first station in his almost 20-year career was Diners Club magazine at Ringier. Together with Michi Frank, he later managed the agencies for Tages-Anzeiger and SonntagsZeitung. After a brief move to Cash, Marchel returned to Tamedia "alone with Kurt Zimmermann and without zero or maquette" to sell the first ads for Facts. "Many of my contacts were assistants back then and now work in management positions," Marchel reveals.
Incidentally, the famous "Marchel Barbecue," a popular event for advertisers for 14 seasons and first cancelled in 2003, is set to rise like a phoenix from the barbecue ash this summer.
"I was looking for promising products": Young entrepreneur Markus Marchel.
Andreas Panzeri

Design prize The Swiss Association for Idea and Innovation Management Idée Suisse awards the "Golden Creativity Oscar '04" to the Abfallhai, in recognition of its idea, design and user-friendly operation. The litter garbage can was developed and produced by Zemp + Partner Design (Gockhausen), Quadesign Partner AG (Zug) and Brüco AG (Rümlang).

Print media From April 7, the news magazine Facts will appear in a new look, and the Tamedia Board of Directors has approved the concept for the further development of the magazine that Editor-in-Chief Stefan Barmettler and his project team have developed. Facts will be visually modified and will focus more on the topics of politics, business and society/culture in future, according to a press release.

Addiction prevention "Pure adrenaline. Better than anything I've ever tried." With the confession of an anonymous sportsman, the "Sport not Drugs" association and Michael Bosshart want to take a stand against the consumption of substances that are harmful to health. The association was founded by private individuals from various sports clubs to support them in their youth work and to contribute to meaningful leisure activities. However, the Zurich-based company Velo.Com is currently proving that the body's own drug adrenaline can not only be released in the club collective: With intoxicating images and the claim "Opium. One Bike for every Trip", the snow-white trial bike is to be popularized in Switzerland. The idea comes from the creative dealers of the Publicis syndicate.

The communications agency Se Impuls was entrusted by Chocolat Frey AG with the creation of new private label documentation aimed primarily at foreign distributors who are to be informed about the possibility of designing their chocolate labels with Chocolat Frey products.

Private radio TZ publisher Urs Lüdi explains why he is selling Günter Heuberger his top radio shares Publisher Urs Lüdi makes one thing clear right at the beginning of the interview with Werbewoche: "The Thurgauer Zeitung (TZ) is not in financial difficulties, it will close 2003 with a profit." Astonishing: Since 2001, the first year in its current form, the TZ has recorded a 41 percent drop in advertising, with a 72 percent drop in jobs (according to VSW). But the TZ publisher puts this into perspective. His paper has not lost more than others, the volume loss on the basis of paid millimeters since 2001 is only 31 percent. The difference to the higher volume loss in the VSW statistics is due to the fact that TZ also reported its own advertisements and unpaid advertisements in 2001 and 2002. Lüdi: "We stopped doing this in 2003."
Ten years paid on top
Even though Lüdi's publishing house was in the black in 2003, the Chairman of Huber & Co cited financial reasons for leaving Radio Top. "The station continues to generate significant losses." This is not due to the Top concept or its crew, but rather because of the high infrastructure costs - 4 studios and 15 transmitters - the station has "never really been in the black".
A good ten years of involvement in radio, including five years as a partner in Radio Top, drained a lot of resources from Huber & Co - Urs Lüdi doesn't want to say how much. As radio is not part of the publishing core business, he has decided to get out. A view that is diametrically opposed to that of the large media companies. Lüdi regrets: "I would like to be active in multimedia, but I can no longer afford it and no longer want to."
Another reason for his exit: Lüdi makes no secret of the fact that he is not on the same page as top CEO Günter Heuberger when it comes to corporate policy issues. "As a minority shareholder, we were unable to make our voice heard as we had hoped," says the outgoing top Chairman of the Board of Directors.
In addition: In future, the Federal Office of Communications will hardly award radio licenses on such a small scale as before, which is why the wholly-owned Huber subsidiary Radio Thurgau AG (RTG) will have to cede its Thurgau license to Top anyway.
And finally, according to Lüdi, his exit would make the ownership structure at Radio Top more transparent and the station more manageable. In fact, Heuberger has announced that Radio Top will become a publicly owned company - provided that the Leuenberger department approves the sale of RTG to Heuberger.
Should this occur, the future ownership structure at Radio Top will probably be as follows: Heuberger will hold around 54 percent of the shares, Board member Martin U. Model 8.5 percent. The remainder will be shared by a good 170 small shareholders.
Heuberger regrets Lüdi's departure. He had valued the publisher not only as Chairman of the Board of Directors, but also as a strategic corrective. Lüdi had also always been able to establish contact with the publishers in Zurich, Winterthur, St. Gallen and Schaffhausen. Due to the top successes in the listener market, he occasionally found himself in awkward sandwich positions, which he mastered with aplomb. Heuberger announced that he would be looking for a new Chairman of the Board of Directors. As Managing Director, he did not wish to accumulate offices.
Complicated ownership structureRadio Top is a merger of the three local radio stations Thurgau, Wil and Eulach (Winterthur), each of which holds a partial license from Top. Eulach holds 50 percent of Top, the other two 25 percent each.
Shares. Radio Thurgau (RTG) was previously 100 percent owned by Huber & Co, now 100 percent by Günter Heuberger. At Wil, 44 public shareholders share the shares, at Eulach there are 135. However, Heuberger holds large stakes in both companies, 42 percent at Eulach and 42 percent at Wil
34 percent. Radio top board member Martin U. Model also holds 34 percent of Wil. (mk)
Günter Heuberger: Radio Top is to become a public company.
TZ publisher Urs Lüdi
Markus Knöpfli

Market research According to Media Focus, gross advertising expenditure in the Swiss media grew by around 0.6 percent in the 4th quarter of 2003.2.5 percent over the year; in the 2nd half of the year the decline was around 0.9 percent. The daily newspapers had a pleasing November. With a change of zero percent, there was no percentage decline for the first time in the year (in Swiss francs, the result was minus 50,000). In December, however, the old rut continued: minus 5.3 percent and minus 6.6 percent for the year as a whole. Consumer magazines reported two positive months (5.1 and 7.2 percent), enabling them to make up for the losses they had started to suffer by 0.2 percent. Trade magazines received a Christmas present in December with growth of 12% (annual loss of 5.5%). Radio experienced a black November: a decline of 10.8 percent meant the weakest month of the overall positive year (3.1 percent). Cinema suffered a slump of 23.9% in December. However, this is down on the record figure of December 2002.

Publishers The investigations by the Competition Commission against Vogt-Schild have been ongoing since the summer. It is true that the Competition Commission (ComCo) is taking a closer look at the Board of Directors of Vogt-Schild/Habegger (VS/H), as the SonntagsZeitung (SoZ) wrote. It is also correct that the ComCo is carrying out investigations into the role of Chairman of the Board Fritz Schuhmacher, who is also Vice-Chairman of both PubliGroupe and Basler Zeitung Medien. This was confirmed by Competition Commission spokesman Patrik Ducrey, who quickly raised the suspicion in the industry that Rudolf Rentsch, who was removed as director and chairman of the board of VS/H in mid-2003, now wanted to blacken Schuhmacher and VS/H with the Competition Commission. When asked about this by Werbewoche, Rentsch said that he would refrain from acts of revenge and power games - "in the interests of the company and the people who work there". The fact is that he was asked by the Competition Commission some time ago to make a statement on the events at VS/H and their background. Among other things, he also pointed out "Schuhmacher's obvious conflicts of interest". "However, that was my only contact with the ComCo in this matter, and I have not heard anything more from them since then," said Rentsch.
Competition Commission spokesman Patrik Ducrey emphasizes that these are clarifications and not formal proceedings, let alone an investigation. What's more, the COMCO investigations did not just start recently, as the SoZ article suggests. Ducrey: "We already became active last summer following a newspaper article and obtained various opinions." But because of the investigations into Espace Media, 20 Minuten and Bund, the matter was left unresolved. "But it is still ongoing," says Ducrey. In the meantime, no new information has been received.
Markus Knöpfli