The National Council wants the Federal Council to quickly present new models for state support of the press. The commission views the media’s role in democracy as «increasingly being called into question.» Therefore, the Federal Council is to present a funding concept and draft legal frameworks for indirect and direct media support within two years. Supporters pointed to the decline of newspapers. In 2000, there were 45 independent newspapers. Today, there are only 32 left, said Andreas Gross (SP, ZH) on behalf of the committee. This represents a 25 percent decline over ten years. Action must be taken now. The SVP and FDP parliamentary groups opposed the motion. In the end, however, the Council adopted the motion by a vote of 88 to 77, with 8 abstentions. Now the Council of States must decide. The Swiss Press Association had called for a “no” vote. The Federal Council also opposed the motion. “A major structural transformation is currently underway,” said Media Minister Doris Leuthard, referring to the internet. The industry is searching for new business models. The Federal Council does not consider it sensible to intervene in this process of reorientation. 

Switzerland Tourism has temporarily removed the ant advertisement featuring Martin Horat from its platform on the advice of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). An animal rights activist had filed a complaint for disturbing the ants. Martin Horat finds this "a joke". He does not understand the measure, said the Muotathal weather prophet on Wednesday at the request of the SDA. The animal rights activists were going too far. "Then you wouldn't be allowed to drive ants out of the house either," said Horat. He has been making forecasts on anthills for a few years now. Back in 2004, Horat sat on an anthill for the filming of "Wetterschmöcker". "The animals are happy when I come." They were very affectionate and climbed up him. The clip was no longer available in the meantime. As reported by the Aargauer Zeitung and Südostschweiz newspapers on Wednesday, Switzerland Tourism took the commercial showing Horat sitting on an anthill off the internet at the FOEN's request. The reason for this was a complaint from a concerned animal rights activist. 

Due to budget losses in Germany - including Lufthansa and Beck's - the McCann Germany Group is undergoing restructuring, Katharina Lohse, CEO of McC, told Werbewoche. The decision has been made to close the Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg and Zurich offices and to consolidate the German-speaking business in Düsseldorf and Berlin. The location in Geneva, where the agency works for L'Oréal Switzerland, will remain in place. The remaining agency clients were offered the option of being served from Düsseldorf and Berlin respectively. As an alternative, Lohse suggested a move to the agency Draft FCB, which, like McCann, belongs to the US holding company Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG). Lohse emphasized that the closure of the Zurich branch was not due to a loss of budget or clients. "Zurich had a great year in 2011." However, the result did not change the consolidation decision, Lohse continued. What will happen to the Zurich team? Discussions had already begun with the employees two to three months ago. No redundancies have been announced. "Our employees have all already found something new."

 

The failure to expand abroad, particularly in Greece, is costing the outdoor advertising company Affichage dearly. The 2010 financial year ended with a loss of 52.3 million Swiss francs. Affichage now wants to concentrate on its home market. Sales fell by 10.5 percent to 304.3 million francs, as the company announced on Wednesday according to SDA. This reflects the generally negative development abroad and currency effects. The net loss is characterized by value adjustments in foreign activities. They cost Affichage CHF 70.8 million. Without these write-downs, a profit of CHF 15.1 million would have been recorded. Affichage had already had to write down CHF 82.6 million in 2009, resulting in a consolidated loss of CHF 59.1 million. The renewed value adjustments were made in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia. The operating result (EBIT) for 2010 was a loss of CHF 39.1 million (previous year: CHF -65.2 million). Foreign sales shrank by almost half to CHF 45.2 million.
 

The greatest SI Style of all time
The advertisers at Jung von Matt/Limmat have created an oversized mailing for SI Style. A huge 50×70 centimeter edition advertises the reach of Switzerland's largest women's magazine to agencies and potential advertisers. Wemf has confirmed it: SI Style is the biggest celebrity and fashion magazine in Switzerland with 420,000 readers. Jung von Matt/Limmat has developed a special mailing for SI Style to communicate this success story to advertising and media agencies and advertising customers. The current issue of the magazine is published as "Riesen SI Style". Although the special edition has slightly fewer pages than the original, the content is otherwise identical, as Lukas Frei, Creative Director at Jung von Matt/Limmat, told Werbewoche. Only the editorial differs from the normal edition and is aimed directly at potential advertisers: SI Style has made itself both especially large and especially small with the special edition, it says. The print format is especially large at 50×70 centimeters, but the circulation is all the smaller at 400 copies.