Two officials at US public radio station NPR, including the chief executive, have resigned after one of them was recorded calling the Tea Party political group “racist” in a sting operation. Ron Schiller, fundraiser for the organization, which has hundreds of member public radio stations across the country, had already announced his resignation but moved the date up to make it effective immediately after a video was released Tuesday that showed him calling conservative Tea Party members “racist” and suggesting that perhaps NPR would be better off without federal funding.
His remarks were made to supposed would-be donors who were working for James O’Keefe, whom ABC News labels a “conservative prankster” although O’Keefe labels himself a journalist who does undercover work.
NPR’s board then met and recommended that CEO Vivian Schiller (no relation to the fundraiser) resign “in the wake of the second high-profile controversy to hit the organization in the past six months,” reports NPR in a blog that tracks events leading to CEO Schiller’s resignation.
In an earlier incident a commentator who was being paid by both NPR and conservative Fox News was fired for not respecting NPR rules after he said he feared flying on planes with people wearing Muslim garb. NPR’s news editor resigned under pressure after outcries from the political right over the firing. The commentator now works for Fox.
Public broadcasting in the US receives about $430 million a year in funding from Congress, where Republicans have in recent weeks stepped up a “defunding” campaign. The Washington Post notes that the “stunning series of public gaffes comes at a time when NPR is otherwise performing admirably. Its array of news and discussion programs – from “All Things Considered” to “Car Talk” and “The Diane Rehm Show” – reached a combined weekly audience of 27 million listeners. Under Schiller, NPR has also expanded its online operations, with a popular news Web site, NPR.org, and an influential musical site, NPRmusic.org.”
Links to other sites: AOL on the fallout (includes sting video), AP/MacLeans (Canada), Fox News, The Village Voice
ABC News on “who is James O’Keefe”
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The digital audio broadcasting (DAB) offer in Switzerland is slowly but surely growing. Three new licenses have been granted for the French-speaking area. They go to Radio Rhône SA, Radio Fribourg/Freiburg SA and Soprodi Sàrl. Rhone/Vertical will carry music with sports and in particular mountain sports programes, Fribourg plans to offer music with cultural and educational programmes, while Soprodi will focus on French language music with programmes on sustainable development.
Seven other applicants were either refused or withdrew during the application period, which opened in 2008, for not meeting the criteria set by Ofcom, the federal communications office.
Swiss-wide smoking ban - Photo Flickr Hance Gessell
Update 2 May A new Swiss federal smoking ban went into effect 1 May.
The new law seeks to bar smoking from all public places but allows it in some confined, closed areas. Cantons may enforce looser or stricter rules.
World Radio Switzerland carries a conversation featuring activists on both sides of the debate.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - WRS public radio (101.7 FM and online) will have a special live programme with Mark Butcher to update listeners on the air travel situation, Saturday 17 April starting at 07:00. The programme will offer live reports from Geneva and Zurich airports, as well as weather and traffic information.
Background: Yahoo, “Volcanoes and planes: survival in the sky”
Wine and beer now allowed on radio, TV
More ads, different spots - and a drop of wine on Swiss TV, radio
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Ofcom, the Swiss federal communications supervisor, will issue directives during the summer of 2010 for more advertising space and time on radio and television. The new regulations will bring Switzerland into line with European neighbours, who have more advertising time, in order not to create a disadvantage, in particular for Swiss public TV and radio.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – World Radio Switzerland (WRS), the English-language public radio station, has offered listeners in Lausanne an explanation for poorer reception by some listeners on its new frequency, compared to the old: 101.7FM has some interference from neighbouring stations 101.5FM and 101.9FM. The move was mandated by the federal communications office in order to give the old location, 88.4FM, to Lausanne FM radio as part of its new license to broadcast in the Geneva area. The allocation of that slot required other stations to move. WRS notes that the best way to pick up the station is with DAB + (digital) radio.
The station was formerly WRG, a private station, but in 2007 it became part of RSR, French-speaking Switzerland’s public radio. RSR director Gerard Tschopp told GenevaLunch at the time that one goal was to build listeners throughout Switzerland with DAB. Digital radio, unlike FM is not geographically limited.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - RSR radio and TSR television will be reborn as RTS, Radio Télévision Suisse in January, when the regional media will merge. The two are part of the SSR group, Switzerland’s public media company. The merger was announced Wednesday 25 November to staff at the two stations in Lausanne and Geneva.
A savings of CHF6 million for a total budget of CHF392m is expected, with the money to be put into programming. The merger will also result in 30 jobs lost out of 1,600 (fulltime equivalent: 2,000 actual jobs), but over a period of five years.
Shared Internet news ok, but not on radio and TV
Geneva / Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The merger of TSR, public television in French-speaking Switzerland, and RSR, public radio, is meeting some resistance from cantonal governments, which insist the two editorial teams must remain separate and independent. Vaud and Geneva, in a joint statement released Monday 23 November, say they would also like to see the traditional roles maintained of Lausanne as a radio centre and Geneva as a television centre. The statement was made in advance of today’s presentation of the merger project to the board of SSR, the parent company.
Swiss TV news on computer
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s federal communications office (Ofcom) director, Martin Dumermuth, told the Berner Zeitung newspaper Thursday that he plans to propose in January a change to the current license fee regulations. Owners of television sets and radios are subject to fees, but Dumermuth would like to include computer and cell phone owners. He was quick to point out that the goal is not to increase license fee revenue: the same amount would be collected, but spread among a larger group, reducing the fee for each type of equipment.
And now, a brief interruption for . . .
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - European TV and radio without borders will soon change listening and viewing habits in Switzerland as well, with the federal government proposing changes to advertising regulations to bring Switzerland in line with neighbouring countries. The new rules would allow advertising once every 90 minutes for news and political programmes and once every 30-45 minutes for other types of programmes, with a daily limit of 15 percent of all programming time for public broadcasting.
Sports and other events will be able to have advertising interruptions similar to those in the rest of Europe.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss Federal Council (cabinet) has told Parliament it does not want the country’s political parties to advertise on television or radio in the run-up to elections, nor does it want to see it pursue legislation to enable this. The decision comes as a result of debate since 2005 over a move to better balance political advertising by giving the parties equal broadcast time.
Note to readers: GenevaLunch editor Ellen Wallace, who writes the GL wine blog “Among the vines,” will be appearing on the WRS radio show “Stir it up” Tuesday 21 April at 10:30 to talk about Swiss wine. Cheers! Wallace writes the Among the Vines blog and was responsible for the English version of the authoritative reference guide, Swiss Wine Guide 2009-2010.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – SSR, the Swiss public broadcasting company, will combine TSR and RSR, its television and radio units in French-speaking Switzerland, as well as its television and radio in German-speaking Switzerland. The move is designed in part as a response to a group 2008 financial loss of CHF79 million, reports TSR, citing an SSR press release, but also as a longer term response to changing audience habits and technical developments in journalism.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Radio Cité, the former religious radio station in Geneva, which was saved from bankruptcy by a CHF1 million annual investment by Genevan Viviane de Witt’s Fondation de Chênes, has seen its audience slipping steadily since January 2007, from 1.9 percent to 1.3 percent of the French-speaking Swiss market. It was granted a license as a community service station in October, one of five stations given licenses in the Lake Geneva region, of 14 federal licenses assigned in October 2008 after months of suspense. The others are commercial stations.
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Radio One FM in Geneva, a private station that is one of the city’s most popular, has moved from a state of shock on learning 31 October that its license is not being renewed, to becoming the centre of public attention focused on fighting for its survival. Among those backing its efforts to fight Bern’s decision is the canton of Geneva.
Free radio on demand service providing professional English-language reports related to Switzerland. Check out his interview on the ETH professor in Zurich who wants to bring cheap solar energy to the world.
