Magazines On April 10, the Tamedia magazine Schweizer Familie (SF) will be published for the first time with the health magazine Praxis. The magazine is added to the SF with a circulation of 200,000 copies. Praxis covers two main topics in each issue, reports on medical research and presents cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. The 60-page line extension will be published twice this year. The second issue is planned for the fall. If market acceptance is positive, the frequency could be increased in 2004, SF writes in a press release.

The University of Applied Sciences Solothurn Northwestern Switzerland is launching a course in public affairs together with the agency cR Kommunikation Bern, the first introductory course on the subject in Switzerland, according to a press release. The course is aimed at managers and communication officers. The course lasts 10 days between May 23 and September 19. Participants will receive a practical introduction to political relationship management with topics such as monitoring, lobbying, campaigning and media relations. The course instructor is PR consultant Markus Schneider from cR Bern.

Mailing On April 28, the Zurich agency Publicis wants to celebrate "the perfect murder" - in front of running cameras and "the eyes of thousands of onlookers", at least that's what the DVD cover promises, which was sent out as an invitation to the traditional Sechseläuten client event. On it, the agency announces the "exclusive world premiere of Alfred Hitchcock's 'Cocktail for a Corpse'", presented by Publicis. However, concerns that the agency wanted to reduce its workforce in this way can be dispelled. Aebi & Co. only want to see the Böögg's head roll, as can be read in the cover text. It's no coincidence that Publicis is based at Theaterstrasse 8, offering the best box seats to watch the spectacle. If you still have any doubts, take a look under the cold buffet and avoid talking about Nietzsche.

Emil Mahnig is editor-in-chief of the Pro Senectute magazine Zeitlupe and a jack-of-all-tradesDoes Emil Mahnig have a doppelganger? The question comes to mind when the 47-year-old lists his activities: As the owner of the one-man company Papercommunication AG, Mahnig manages media projects at mandate level. He is editor-in-chief and managing director of the Pro Senectute magazine Zeitlupe and also produces the Federal Office of Public Health's magazine Nix on the "Non-smoking experiment" project. Until recently, he also managed the relaunch of the magazine Le Menu and is currently working on a local television project - about which he reveals nothing more than that it is a "TV magazine for quality of life".
Because that's not enough, Mahnig lectures at the MAZ media training center and is a member of the SRG programme commission. That leaves his free time, in which he finds time for his family, sport and dog and plays the piano, guitar or hand organ on the side.
In Mahnig's office in the Zeitlupe editorial office, his PC, radio and television are all running at the same time. As a fan of synergy, he always thinks and acts in a multi-channel way. That's why the journalist also has a preference for media networks: "If information is distributed via different channels, you can pick people up from the medium they are currently using. A network also increases the impact of messages."
This also explains why Mahnig wants to make Zeitlupe, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, more "multimedia-oriented". His aim is to reach the readership via teletext and radio and to organize more events. In addition, a moderate rejuvenation of the content is intended to rid the product of an overly old-fashioned image. "We don't want to be an euthanasia magazine," emphasizes the Lucerne native, "but rather convey a zest for life in old age." Zeitlupe is hardly affected by the current advertising slump: "Advertising has discovered the 55+ generation as a target group. In addition, our advertising segment has expanded to include travel, culture and entertainment since we restructured our advertising sales," emphasizes Mahnig. This is also reflected in the latest circulation figures from Wemf, which certified an increase of 11.4 percent for Zeitlupe (see also page 22).
The former primary school teacher entered the media via the Ringier School of Journalism. He went on to become editor-in-chief of Radio Pilatus, head of news and page editor at SonntagsBlick and Blick. As project manager and editor-in-chief of the TV show "GesundheitSprechstunde", he realized an idea from its launch to the management of a media network. After three years, he met with resistance: "The garden-variety thinking caused increasing problems for some Ringier colleagues." A development that prompted him to become self-employed in August 2002. Although he is working at full capacity, he can never turn down interesting projects: "There always has to be capacity for good ideas!" laughs Mahnig.
Carole Koch

Zurich-based advertising agency Department has won Adidas Switzerland as a new client for Switzerland's largest youth football tournament, according to a press release from the advertising agency. "It's a first step," says partner Ollie Brunschwiler confidently. "Maybe we can impress the great Duke in Aurach with our ideas?" hopes the former snowboard pro with a wink.

Column Journalistic demands for completely free war reporting are not only naive, but also illegitimate. Besides, what is the pure truth? there is no war without journalists who are outraged by attempts to impose limits on their reporting or even to exercise censorship. The US offer to allow more than 500 press and television correspondents to travel to the front with the soldiers as "embedded journalists" is seen by critics as a particularly perfidious strategy of information control: it is suspected, they say, that this proximity of warriors and war correspondents leads to the latter identifying with the former. Moreover, the Pentagon had formulated rules for the behavior of "information combatants" (ZDF editor Ulrich Kienzle) that made free reporting impossible. At the same time, hundreds of journalists at the "Central Command" in Doha are complaining about routinely presented empty formulas, and a reporter from the Christian Science Monitor has already been expelled from southern Iraq by the allied forces. According to the military, he had given too precise information about the positions and operations of their units. NBC dismissed its reporter Peter Arnett, a journalistic veteran of the first Gulf War, because he had allowed himself to be turned into a key witness against the coalition on Iraqi propaganda television. German media critics see this as further proof of the boundless patriotism of the US networks, which had already criticized the non-broadcasting of TV images of fallen GIs as self-censorship.
What comes along in the pose of the defenders of a free press against the silence cartel of the (of course Anglo-American) military-political complex is
in reality a mixture of stupidity and brazen business acumen. (The small remnant of serious concern can be safely neglected in this place, which is designed to be exaggerated). Shamefully stupid
is when journalists fail to understand that different laws apply on a battlefield than in the hothouse of political intrigue or in the jungle of balance sheet manipulation by large corporations.
War is the ultimate emergency in which people fight and die. Information is an important weapon - always for the opponent too. That is why the whole truth, whatever that may be, is only available after the end of hostilities. How naive or narrow-minded must anyone be who does not understand that information about a unit's armament and position can contain intelligence that endangers the life and limb of soldiers? And should the "Central Command" seriously grant the bunch of journalistic highwaymen access to its war plans so that Saddam can then view them on CNN? Anyone who demands such a thing is asking for self-sacrifice through media publicity.
Peter Arnett, on the other hand, is certainly not that stupid. The ex-CNN man, who has been somewhat sidelined in this war, simply wanted to draw attention to himself again, which is why he sounded so full-bodied on Saddam Hussein's TV channel. If you have a booth on the market, you have to make noise: This motto is the only motive for an interview for which he was fired with good reason. Wartime is a reminder that there are limits, even for journalists. We should not be dissuaded from this insight by the loud accusations of censorship.
> Heribert Seifert is the media and culture correspondent for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung and lives as a freelance journalist in northern Germany.

Newspapers The daily newspaper Die Südostschweiz is discontinuing its Friday supplement Apropos. The Extrabund had reported on leisure and lifestyle topics, which are now to be integrated into the regional section of the newspaper, as was reported in Friday's Südostschweiz. From May, the newspaper will have a fortnightly youth supplement instead.

The SRG Research Service (FD), which collects market data for SRG media and private radio and TV broadcasters, is a service center of SRG. This has always been a thorn in the side of the private sector. The commercial part, the marketing of the data, on the other hand, is the task of the wholly-owned SRG subsidiary Publica Data AG (PDAG). In contrast to the FD, private providers and the advertising industry have had a limited say in PDAG since 1998. On the one hand, the PDAG Board of Directors is made up of one representative each from the private providers (currently Goldbach CEO Klaus Kappeler) and the advertising industry (currently Urs Renner, Managing Director of Mediaedge|Cia) as well as three SRG representatives. There are also two user commissions, one for SRG media and the second for private providers and the advertising industry.
It was only rumored last week that SRG is now in the process of reviewing these structures. Head of FD Matthias Steinmann, asked about the reorganization plans at the annual FD press conference on 4 April, stated that he "cannot and must not say anything".
Private individuals protest at Walpen
SRG spokesperson Josefa Haas confirmed that a project group has been set up by the SRG General Management to draw up organizational proposals. The review is in connection with Article 33 of the draft RTVA, which leaves audience research for radio and TV with SRG, as well as with Steinmann's retirement next year. No decisions have yet been made about the future structure. Haas did not provide any information on the group's specifications, objectives or composition, but confirmed that private radio and TV providers are not involved. These protested with letters to SRG boss Armin Walpen.
Haas therefore announced additional details on April 8, such as the composition of the project group (see box). Above all, however, she outlined for the first time the concrete plans that are apparently already in place. "The outsourcing of the SRG SSR research service to Publica Data AG is being examined," she wrote. However, the PDAG Board of Directors and the User Commission (UC) institution will not be changed. "This model is intended to create greater transparency and increase the influence of third parties", as the private sector and the advertising industry, according to Haas, "have a say in PDAG via the User Commission and the Board of Directors".
Haas states that SRG could also "in principle" imagine research being outsourced from SRG. However, this would require an amendment to Article 33 of the RTVA. If this were to happen, "the envisaged target organization (FD to PDAG)" would not be an obstacle, "on the contrary, PDAG could simply be incorporated into a funding body open to all interested parties", writes Haas.
Steinmann does not seem to approve of this model. His announced resignation from the PDAG Board of Directors at the AGM in mid-June should be seen in this context. In any case, Silvio Studer, Chairman of the PDAG Board of Directors, explained on request that Steinmann was not standing for re-election in order to avoid conflicts of interest. In fact, at his FD press conference, Steinmann once again emphasized the primacy of science at the FD and pointed out that despite being embedded in the SRG, it had "never conducted pro domo research". In order to maintain this independence, the marketing of the data had also been deliberately separated from the FD and transferred to PDAG.
Wants to avoid conflicts: SRG researcher Steinmann.
They are working on the new structuresProject manager: Nico Issenmann, Issenmann Consulting, Publisuisse Board of Directors
Project team: Heinrich Anker, Media Officer SR DRS, Gregor Doser, Head of Marketing Services, Publisuisse, Patrick Holtz, Legal Services SRG SSR, Markus Jedele, Head of Television Research; MSC FD*, Rolf Müller, Managing Director PDAG, Michel Racine, Media Officer TSR, Urs Renner, Managing Director Mediaedge:Cia, VR PDAG*, Felix Widmer, Senior Consultant, KPMG
Steering Committee: Chair: Walter Rüegg, Director SR DRS, Ingrid Deltenre, Director Publisuisse, Daniel Jorio, Head of Finance+Controlling SRG-GD, Rainer Keller, Head of Staff SRG-GD, Gilles Marchand, Director TSR
*PDAG/FD = Publica Data / Research Service
Markus Knöpfli

The Finnish technology group Nokia has entrusted Grey Worldwide in London with the launch budget for its new product N-Gage.N-Gage combines a cell phone, MP3 player and Gameboy into one device and is due to be launched in the fall. Major gaming software companies such as Activision, Sega and Eidos have pledged their support. Grey Worldwide, which already manages Nokia's European advertising budget, won the pitch against Bates and the Texas-based Richards Group, which are responsible for Asia and America respectively. A total of 100 million dollars is to be made available for the global launch campaign.

The Tages-Anzeiger (TA) has commissioned the Zurich-based graphic design studio Code to redesign its nightlife magazine Züritipp. According to a TA press release, its layout proposal paid particular attention to meaningful reader guidance and quick orientation. The relaunch of the "city magazine" (according to TA editor-in-chief Peter Hartmeier) is planned for mid-June. The zero issue should be available at the end of April or beginning of May. TA Editor-in-Chief Peter Hartmeier told Werbewoche that the new Züritipp will "become the talk of the town".

Market research is an important decision-making tool for marketing managers, because market research is used to obtain, process and analyze the necessary basic information from and about the market to be addressed. The non-fiction book by Manfred R. Lüttgens explains how this works in practice. "Marketing Research" is a guide for all marketing planners who want to better recognize and understand the market. The book is now published by Crusius in Bern in its second, revised and expanded edition and is available in every bookshop. ISBN 3-905318-05-9.

In the most personal of all classified ad markets, Facts and NZZ are breaking new, interactive and profitable ground.When the first plants sprout and people's hormones go crazy, the media's search for a partner also produces fresh, colorful blossoms. One of these was enclosed with the Tamedia news magazine on March 20, i.e. one day before the beginning of spring. Facts' first singles guide gathered 300 lonely hearts on 40 uniformly designed pages, which one (and woman) could first select at leisure on paper and then contact via e-mail or SMS.The idea to extend the "Guide" line extension, which had previously been limited to bar and restaurant guides, to the domain of contact brokering did not come from Tamedia's offline division. "We wanted to finally use synergies and launch an innovation that is fun and also profitable," says Claudia Wyss, project manager at Tamedia's "Date'n'flirt" platform PartnerWinner.ch. As a third party in the novel communication alliance, Swisscom Mobile also marks its visual presence free of charge in the singles booklet, whose print run of 150,000 copies is not yet out of print. (Repeat orders via PartnerWinner or Swisscom are possible, but make little sense due to the short half-life of personal ads).
According to Facts product manager Claudia Gillardon, the full page price of 10,000 Swiss francs was charged for each of the other six full-page ads. That's why the first singles guide, modeled on the monthly Amica supplement "Zum Verlieben," "at least covered its costs. In the fall, the synergetic ménage à trois is to go into series production with a successor for the cuddly season - and thus soon secure Tamedia a new source of income.
Success as a seal of quality
At the NZZ, which has so far been reluctant to engage in "emotional business," the activation of this cyclically resistant category segment was carried out by a highly reputable provider, as befits its status. However, the marketing director of NZZ-Online, Kurt Busslinger, was ultimately convinced by the performance record of Parship, an agency with scientific pretensions (see box): Thanks to the cooperation with the weekly newspaper Die Zeit, the Internet branch has been in the black since the beginning of 2003. "In January, the revenue from our first and most profitable media partner to date exceeded 100,000 euros for the first time," says Parship co-founder Lars Langusch. He therefore describes Die Zeit, whose Holtzbrinck-internal yes vote just over two years ago started it all, as a "role model" and door opener for the steadily growing number of publishers who have placed the Parship link on the homepages of their prestigious titles.
One key to the surprise success of electronic "match making" - according to Busslinger, almost 10,000 users registered via nzz.ch alone in the first quarter of 2003 - is undoubtedly its cross-media promotion. Parship is benefiting from the slump in the industry in that the demand for unsuspicious "filler material" is particularly high these days. Thus, one or two full-page references to the new platform appear weekly in the NZZ Ticket. And at its launch, even the usually buttoned-up main paper loosened its shirt collar and asked "Nasenbär gesucht?" ("Nose bear wanted?") with unusual relish.
Facts and NZZ (Online) secure a piece of the lucrative classifieds pie for Herzen in Flammen.
Market leader of the "match makers "With its current 3,400,000 registered members, Parship is, according to its own information, the largest German-language online dating agency based in Hamburg. The Internet dating service was founded in mid-2000 by Holtzbrinck Networxs AG, the venture capital company of Holtzbrinck Verlag (Handelsblatt, Die Zeit, Wirtschaftswoche, Der Tagesspiegel and others). Today, this still holds just under
87 percent of the company, which has been profitable since 2002; the rest is shared by the founders and the current 22 employees. The current cooperation list includes 30 media partners and ranges from the search engine altavista.de to all Holtzbrinck products and Spiegel Online. In Austria, too, Parship is already represented on five newspaper sites. Of the Swiss publishers, only the NZZ has so far worked with the Hamburg agency. However, negotiations are underway with search.ch and Bluewin. Also at the top of the wish list is
Weltwoche. When asked, Uli Rubner, head of Weltwoche's publishing house, expressed interest, but "not until the beginning of 2004 at the earliest, when we have reorganized our entire classified business. (oc)
Oliver Classen