Guest commentary In the credibility battle between the BBC and Tony Blair, there is only one winner: media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
That gives Marcello Foa food for thought.
Lord Justice Hutton's ruling in the Kelly case is becoming increasingly controversial. Formally, Tony Blair won, indeed triumphed. But it is precisely this that is now causing him a problem. Surveys show that the British public considers the Hutton report to be biased. The BBC is no longer seen as the sole culprit. Both Blair and the broadcaster have lost credibility. Meanwhile, there is one sure winner who has so far remained surprisingly in the background: Rupert Murdoch, who owns around 175 newspapers and TV stations on both sides of the Atlantic, from Sky to Fox News and the Times of London. There are various reasons why he may have hoped for a defeat or at least a major loss of prestige for the BBC. Part of the story is well known: the personal relationship between Murdoch and Blair was crucial to New Labour's electoral success. The British newspapers and television stations, owned by the previously conservative tycoon, had been firmly on Blair's side since his first meeting with the young, charismatic Labour leader. Britain's biggest tabloid newspaper, The Sun, played the leading role. It moved into the left-wing camp for the first time and even convinced moderate Conservatives to support Blair.
The other part is less well known: Greg Dyke, Director General of the BBC, has long been Murdoch's most persistent adversary. As a TV wunderkind at BskyB, Channel 5, and Itn, he has always worked strategically against Murdoch's expansionist ambitions. Under Dyke's aegis, the BBC regained its independence and aggressiveness, and he raised its profile as the most significant anti-Murdoch bastion.
And the BBC made headlines again, for example in the case of the American soldier Jessica Lynch, whose "heroic liberation" from Iraqi captivity had been staged by the Pentagon. In addition, the broadcaster planned a US campaign; BBC programs were to be distributed by a network of local television stations. A plan that the Australian media mogul did not like.
A few weeks later, Blair's former head of communications, Alastair Campbell, launched a fierce attack on Andrew Gilligan, the BBC broadcaster who had questioned the government's credibility. Until then, his program had hardly been noticed. It was Campbell himself who helped her make the breakthrough.
The rest - including the ruling of January 28 - is known. One newspaper reported Hutton's ruling in advance: Murdoch's Sun. And just one day later, his arch-rival Dyke announced his resignation. Coincidence? In any case, only one person benefited from the Kelly affair - and he is eloquently silent.
> Marcello Foa is head of foreign affairs at Il Giornale in Milan and co-director of the European Journalism Observatory at the University of Lugano.

Budget The fashion chain Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) has entrusted Carat Switzerland with its media planning and media buying. Carat took over the client from the previous budget holder Mediaedge CIA at the beginning of May, and OMD, Initiative Media, Universal McCann and Mediacom were invited to pitch for the multi-million euro budget alongside the old and new account manager.

Public Relations The Swiss Public Relations Institute is now offering an intensive seminar for communication managers in non-profit organizations (NPOs) The five-day short course "PR for NPOs" will take place for the first time in April and May 2004. The focus will be on communication strategies, crisis communication and the potential and limits of media work. Lecturers include Roland Jeanneret, Head of Communications at Swiss Solidarity, Carmelina Castellino, Pestalozzi Children's Foundation, Doris Fiala, communications consultant for the Paraplegic Foundation and the Zurich Lighthouse. The seminar will be led by Nicole Zeiter. Further details and the information brochure are available at www.spri.ch or can be requested by calling 01 299 40 40.

Until the end of 2017, Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft (APG) will be the sole owner of billboards in the city of Basel, following the decision by competitor Clear Channel Plakanda (CCP) to waive its right to appeal to the Federal Supreme Court. This was confirmed by CCP. The decision of the Basel Administrative Court last December is therefore legally binding: the CCP appeal against the award of the poster concession to APG was dismissed.APG CEO Christian Kauter expressed his satisfaction in an initial reaction. The legal dispute had been about the question of which company had presented the better billposting concept. "Now both the responsible jury of the Basel building department and the administrative court have clearly stated that our concept is better than that of CCP," he says. The awarding of the concession in Basel took over six years. Objections from the Basel Heritage Society against APG illuminated posters and a political debate contributed to the delays.
(mk)

The invitation to the 10th anniversary came from Cash-TV, but the entire Ringier TV block celebrated on Tuesday last week in the Maag Event Hall.Cash-TV marked the start of Ringier's television commitment, and last year "People" joined the family as the tenth medium.The birthday boy has seen many heads come and go over the years, proving himself to be a rock in the surf of the economy journaille - which also became clear in the potpourri from ten years of Cash-TV. Ex-presenter Kaspar Loeb is now CEO of Publicis, Martin Ebner (quote: "Shares will change your life!") has disappeared into oblivion. And Alex Bloch, formerly a regular guest on the show, has also gone quiet. In turn, model entrepreneur Nicholas G. Hayek has handed over the scepter to his son Nick Hayek, and Fibo Deutsch has done the same. As one of the driving forces behind Ringier's TV commitment, he has handed over the baton to successor Marc Goertz.
Besides the film clips, Viktor Giacobbo was another party highlight. The fact that he now only reads Weltwoche with a spam filter because Roger Köppel's comments then don't get through was just one of the satirist's countless bon mots.
The splendid atmosphere enticed people to promenade throughout the hall and to settle down at various tables during the course of the evening. Heike Findeis, GL Chairwoman of Springer Science + Business Media, which also owns Werbewoche, met Olympic bobsleigh champion Hausi Leutenegger, with whom she was able to talk shop. Her hometown of Dresden was the birthplace of the fast vehicles with which the GDR elite often (but not always!) put the fear of God into the Swiss in the bobsleigh.
Some hardy contemporaries toasted the "Golden Days of Sapporo," the stock market boom, and the Internet hype at the bar until very late into the night. Cheers!
Beat Fritsch quickly found his favorite spot on Cash TV's birthday. As a lover of all kinds of smoked goods, he was inevitably drawn to Roger Wilhelm's stand. The director of Tabaco Mexico Suiza, together with his charming assistant, was offering the
Visitors to the party Mexican premium longfiler à discrétion.
We locate where the communications, media and publishing industries meet for their parties at the scene's various events. Do you already have something to report? Pick up the phone (Phone
01 296 97 98) or into the keys ([email protected]). Event tips and more shortlist images are available online at www.werbewoche.ch
The only successful Swiss private TV entrepreneur: Michael Ringier with wife Dr. Ellen Ringier in the Maag Event Hall.
Fibo Deutsch (from left), driving force at Ringier-TV, with his employees Marc Goertz (from right), Angela Sgurra and Andy Waldis.
Talking shop about bobsleighing: Hausi Leutenegger and Heike Findeis, GL Chairwoman Springer Science + Business Media.
Ringier TV marketing lady Priska Weiss celebrates with Gregory Schick (l.) from Swiss Post and Patrick Weiss from Biel agency WCD.
Once a presenter at Cash TV: Kaspar Loeb (l.), now Publicis CEO, with Daniela and Dietmar Bemberg of BG Media.
Andy Lehmann (r.), Group Managing Director of Aegis Media Group Switzerland, with Edith and Ruedi Oser, Customer Sales TPC.
The ladies Silvia Engeler and Sithara Atasoy (r.), Bolero editor-in-chief, second silk spinner Andi Stutz at the photo shoot.
Corinne Dörig (l.), facilitator of athletes for photo purposes at Athletic Models, and Petra Kreussler of The Generation Media.
Rainer Keller (l.), Chief of Staff at SRG in Bern, HSG student (and Fibos Filia) Danielle Deutsch, Urs Renner, Mediaedge:CIA.
Beobachter publishing director Peter Kümmerli (l.) and Blick/SonntagsBlick publishing director Bruno Blaser have a great time at the aperitif.
Urs Schneider (l.), owner of Seefeld-based Mediaschneider, with René Hildbrand, Editor-in-Chief at TR7.
Joko Vogel, with assistant Sibylle Prestel, provided the overall concept for the Ringier TV event and is therefore slightly nervous.
Turning on the charm with Ringier women Eva Keller (right) and Jacqueline Friederichs: NZZ Director Marco E. de Stoppani.
Roger and Doris Mortellaro with notary Marija Novakovic Schneider and Publisuisse Director Martin Schneider (from left).
Matthias Luchsinger (r.) and Jean-Claude Bruhin (l.) of Sat 1 window marketer Cinecom with Carlo Steiner, Publisuisse.

Online The Ringier women's magazine Glückspost has been given a new website, which offers various additional services such as puzzle solutions and reader trips in addition to content from the current magazine. The background to the relaunch is the switch to Ringier's standardized Group-wide service and marketing platform on the Internet. This should significantly reduce the time and effort required to manage the online offerings, while at the same time expanding the range of information available. The platform and the new design of glueckspost.ch were realized by the Group's own agency Previon.

16 000000 MusicStar The rush is like the big brother in the container:16 000000 MusicStarReality show The rush is like the big brother in the container: since the start of the qualifying round in December, over 16 million pages had been accessed on www.musicstar.bluewin.ch or www.musicstar.tv by the end of January. The website for the "MusicStar" show is operated jointly with Bluewin. Swiss Television developed the design and is responsible for the editorial content. Naturally, links to the sponsors are also included on the site.

In his first book, Raymond Lüdi explores the question of how the Internet euphoria led to the biggest bubble in economic history.In his first book, Raymond Lüdi explores the question of how the Internet euphoria led to the biggest bubble in economic history. The answer from the (self-)critical former editor-in-chief of Media Trend Journal: the main responsibility for all the hot air and the many casualties lies with the media and their
IT manipulators.
> The digital impostors by Raymond Lüdi. Elemente Verlag, Zurich 2003. 164 pages, 37 Fr.

Food With an emotionally charged TV commercial, the Exxtra agency dramatizes the oven-freshness of Migros bread until closing time Fresh bread has the most irresistible smell in the world of food. This was scientifically proven by the Frenchman Louis-Camille Maillard as early as 1912. The reaction of sugar and protein molecules at high temperatures, named after the biochemist, is used by bakers for marketing purposes, enabling them to keep Swiss bread consumption per capita fairly stable at around 52 kilograms per year. Despite changing eating habits and the constantly growing food supply, bread consumption has risen slightly again since the 1990s. Traditional and rustic types of bread are particularly popular with consumers. The Swiss Association of Master Bakers and Confectioners suspects that the retro trend could be a reaction to the characteristic deficiencies of the modern diet, as an expression of a guilty conscience, so to speak.Two strong USPs in competition
Bakers are taking advantage of this fact. To the delight of many bread eaters, they are increasingly reviving old, rustic recipes. In this respect, the wholesalers (around 52% market share) hardly differ from the commercial bakeries, which cover a good 44 percent of bread demand. However, the latter are increasingly trumpeting the USP of a longer fermentation time, which results in a better taste and a longer shelf life.
In order to stand out from the competition and generate footfall, Migros and its 350 bakeries - excluding Jowa - offer oven-fresh bread until closing time, in the sense of "fresher than from the village bakery", explains Exxtra's Client Service Director Michael Gassler. The wholesaler wants to make customers aware of this positioning by aggressively expanding its bread range. Under the name "Création", a new specialty bread will soon be pulled out of the oven every two weeks.
To achieve this, the Exxtra creative team led by CD Dieter Hofmann no longer strained the farmland-and-homeland tonality that resonated in the last commercial with the impressive Hitchcock quote from the birds. "This time, we dramatize the freshness of the bread through an unpretentious story in a bleak urban environment," says Hofmann. The backdrop for the freshly baked commercial is a dreary suburban residential area through which a young boy walks with a loaf of bread under his arm. Suddenly he is surrounded by a horde of children, and before he knows it, they have snatched the bread from his hand. The unexpected twist in the plot: instead of making off with their conquest, the children warm themselves with the bread. After each child has had their portion of warmth, the bread is returned to its owner, who quickly makes his way home. "Fresh bread every day until closing time" is the solution.
Illustrated duo for the TV commercial
The emotions of the story should primarily help to give the Migros bakery a sympathetic and human face - away from the industrial, impersonal large company. "The children support the credibility and honesty of the message," Hofmann is convinced. First and foremost, however, the commercial should be touching. And it achieves this not least thanks to the cinematic realization. Pavel Edelmann, who regularly works behind the camera for Roman Polanski and most recently shot the film "The Pianist", is responsible for the images. The film was directed by L.A.-based Greek director Harry Patramanis, who has already shot many internationally acclaimed commercials and was awarded a Cannes Lion, among other prizes.
In the TV commercial, Migros advertises fresh bread until closing time - it is still so warm from the oven that it even warms cold children's hands.

Luca Aloisi

Join-in TV price watchdog Werner Marti criticizes the high fees that SF DRS collects for the telephone votes on its casting show "Music Star". "We have asked SF DRS to reconsider the 70 centimes per call," the price watchdog's office confirmed to the programme magazine TR7. And asks: Is a fee-based broadcaster allowed to refinance a format through televoting?

Investor Relations 17 female and two male graduates have successfully completed the first "Investor Relations Assistant" short course, which was organized by the Swiss Public Relations Institute in cooperation with the professional associations GIRAS (Swiss Association of Investor Relations Agencies) and SIRV (Swiss Investor Relations Association). The next course starts on October 12. At management level, an "Investor Relations Officer" course is in preparation and will begin in the second half of 2004.

Does KuoniWeckt, the new, stylish travel magazine from Fisch Meier Direkt for Kuoni, spark a desire to travel? Will the new catalog concept take off or take a nosedive at www.werbewoche.ch/adrating?
Migros Budget: The ad rating for Exxtra's new campaign for Migros Budget is unfavorable.
Top 40,15%Flop 59,85%