Epiphany Conference: Visions for the future of the Swiss media industry

At the traditional Epiphany Conference at the World Trade Center in Zurich, the Swiss media industry exchanged thoughts and experiences, took a look into the future and reflected on the past few months. What resolutions and forecasts were realized, what are the expectations for the new year? according to publisher president Hanspeter Lebrument, the Swiss press should reflect on its role as the fourth estate in the state. This status is jeopardized the more the press demands compensation from the state for its services. At a time when the Postal Services Act is being reissued and the Radio and Television Act (RTVA) is coming into force, the press should carefully consider its role, says Lebrument.
As the fourth estate in the state, the press forms a counterweight to the institutional powers: governments, parliaments and courts. Television and radio, with their great dependence on the state, had never achieved this status. Lebrument warned against giving up independence. Against the backdrop of the revisions to the Post and RTVG laws, the press is forced to lobby.
Publishers and advertisers agree code of conduct 
Newspaper editors, publishers and advertisers have agreed on rules of conduct for dealing with paid advertising. The aim of the code of conduct is to make a clearer distinction between advertising and editorial content. All players are fully committed to the principle of full transparency, as the initiators announced. Media consumers must be able to clearly recognize which content is editorial and which is commercially influenced.
Among other things, the recommendations stipulate that the design of advertisements must not give the impression that they are an editorial part of the medium. In particular, care should be taken to ensure that the typography is clearly distinguishable. Any form of sponsorship must be clearly declared. The code was agreed by the Conference of Editors-in-Chief, the Swiss Press Association, Presse Suisse, Stampa Svizzera, BSW Leading Swiss Agencies, the Association of Swiss Advertising Clients SWA and the Allianz Schweizer Werbeagentur.
A rapprochement: Publishers' seats on the Press CouncilIn addition, publishers and editorial teams have come closer together in the dispute over publishers' seats on the Swiss Press Council. Prejudices, for example, have been dispelled. The aim is to include publishers in the Press Council at the beginning of 2008.
There are signs of a rapprochement," Urs Thalmann, Central Secretary of the impressum journalists' association, told SDA. The trade unions, which are represented on the Press Council and rejected the publishers' initiative the year before last, have been open to talks since last fall. They still hold the same position, Thalmann continued. However, since the last quarter, the discussion has become somewhat more differentiated.