Last but not least: When the sports reporter rings twice

Peter Rothenbühler is responsible for comparisons between German-speaking Switzerland and French-speaking Switzerland. He often concludes that French-speaking Switzerland is more cosmopolitan, more multicultural and less complicated. This is also the case with the new Blick editor-in-chief Andrea Bleicher. While people on this side of the Röstigraben are still upset that the young, beautiful mother only sees her children two days a week, people in French-speaking Switzerland are already used to young, beautiful - and even blonde (!) - mothers sitting in the editorial offices of the titles with the highest circulation. However, their private lives and looks are "only discussed in the bar", says Rothenbühler in his weekly column. To cement the relevance of privacy protection, the former head of Schweizer Illustrierte adds: "We don't ask ourselves which female skiers our sports reporters are sleeping with".

No, we really don't. However, when this - seemingly out of thin air - suggestion comes from the pen of a man who has had the bedrooms and living rooms of Swiss A and B-list celebrities illuminated for years and knows his way around everyone and everything, you could almost get curious. You could. If you worked at Blick, for example. Because according to the Sonntagszeitung (same issue, different article), the paper will continue to follow Grosse-Bley's "blood-boob-boob course" under Bleicher - even if a word like "tits" would never make it into a headline, as she emphasizes over lunch.

The two SRF women's ski commentators Stefan Hofmänner and Michael Bont certainly came by their well-founded background knowledge in a serious way. For years they have been one of the few pleasing exceptions in SRF sports reporting, even if they have always stood in the shadow of the popular men's duo Hüppi/Russi. Hofmänner is objective, has a pleasant voice, formulates pointedly and often speaks from the viewer's soul. For example, when the ORF director prefers to show the finish area or athletes dancing their way to the finish instead of the exciting downhill race - even though the racers emerge from the interval and transmission hole with inexplicably large gaps ("That's what upsets me!"). And once you get used to Bont's dialect, you realize that he knows an incredible amount about modern skiing, knows all the background and provides viewers with information that is really insightful. He authentically suffers and rejoices with the skiers. If Berhard Russi wasn't so popular and loved, he would have to dress very warmly for an objective expert comparison. In contrast to the endless annoyance of football, Swiss television is world class here.

Ski reporting on French-speaking Swiss television is certainly much better, more impartial and more cosmopolitan. Perhaps even young, attractive mothers who never need to see their children at all are already commentating. Trendy!

Thomas Häusermann