Parliament's few Italian speakers would like to see the government using Italian regularly, but too few Swiss politicians understand the language well
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss Federal Council agreed Tuesday 11 October to allow SSR, Switzerland’s public broadcast corporation, to start broadcasting in French in the country’s German-speaking regions. Programmes picked up from TSR and RSR, in French, will be sub-titled for German language audiences.
Italian-language programmes from Radiotelevisione Svizzera (RSI) are also covered by the revised licensing agreement, which goes into effect 1 November.
The change was made as part of efforts to improve multilingualism in Switzerland.
Geneva court where the case is being investigated - Photo by wrong_response in Flickr
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss public broadcaster Radio Suisse Romande (RSR) reports that three Al Rushaid Petroleum Investment Corp employees have been charged by the Geneva public prosecutor in a bribery and money-laundering case.
Two British nationals and one Pakistani working for the drilling division of Al Rushaid may have accepted millions of dollars in exchange for awarding valuable contracts; the funds may have then been illegally deposited in a Geneva bank.
Swissinfo reports that Al Rushaid claims it lost “hundreds of millions of dollars” because the equipment, “bought at inflated prices was often substandard or was not delivered at all, delaying or preventing the completion of contracts.”
The money, which has been blocked by Geneva judicial authorities was allegedly placed in a private Geneva bank.
Although Swiss radio declined to identify the bank, Bloomberg Businessweek says Geneva-based Pictet & Cie was sued in New York City by Rasheed Al Rushaid for “concealing their receipt of the bribe money.”
Lawyers for the accused maintain that the source of the money is not illegal. The bank, which according to Swissinfo has been questioned but not charged, also denies that the money was obtained illicitly.
Links to other sites: Swissinfo, RSR, Bloomberg Businessweek
Silicone gel-filled breast implants (not PIP) - Photo FDA
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – At least 280 women who had breast implants in Switzerland may have received silicone prostheses intended for industrial and not for medical use, confirms Swissmedic, which overseas medical product safety in the country.
Swissmedic confirmed a story that Swiss public radio, RSR, broke 31 January during its morning show, On en Parle.
The broadcast contended that the implants which were manufactured by French Poli Implant Protheses, PIP, did not meet minimum European standards and potentially poses a risk of leakage.
Doctors involved have been contacted by Swissmedic, according to news agency ats, which advises patients to contact their physicians.
Roger de Weck, new SSR CEO in January 2011
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss Public Broadcasting Corporation, SSR, will be tightening its belt in January by streamlining its administrative structure. The company will be acting on the advice of Roger de Weck, who takes over in January as chief executive officer, to reduce the senior management team from nine members with four “paticipants” to seven members, with the four participants used as consultants on an occasional basis.
SSR owns TSR television, RSR radio, WRS radio and the swissinfo web site in the Lake Geneva region as well as several other media, in several languages, throughout Switzerland.
Deficit for 2010 expected to soar due to sports coverage
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - SSR, Swiss public broadcasting, is seeking the right to raise more funds through advertising and license fees, saying its funding situation is “critical” with a third annual deficit of CHF75 million expected for 2010. The figure was put forward Tuesday 27 April when the group published its key financial figures for 2009, showing a CHF46.7m deficit. The figure was better than the loss SSR had in 2008 of CHF79.1m, but the group needs the government’s approval to increase the level of advertising or license fees to add revenue, just as it needs the cabinet (Federal Council) to give it the right to cut back editorially, on content.
SSR owns TSR television, RSR radio, WRS English radio and the swissinfo web site for the Swiss abroad, as well as German, Italian and Romansch radio and TV stations.
The company blames the loss for a sharp drop in commercial sales in 2009, down more than 26 percent, when Swiss media in general suffered from a large decline in advertising revenue.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Journalists will be spared but 100 of their colleagues in support services at SSR, Swiss Public Broadcasting Corporation, will lose their jobs between now and 2014. Support services, with 735 employees, include: computer services, real estate, logistics, human resources, training, communications, marketing, and accounting.
SSR owns TSR television, RSR radio and WRS English radio, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Jean-Jacques Roth, who has just resigned as editor in chief of Le Temps newspaper, has been named to head the joint television-radio news team at the recently created Radio Television Suisse Romande (RTSR). The new entity is the result of the merger of public radio and television stations RSR and TSR, which join forces in January 2010. The two are already part of SSR, the Swiss public broadcasting company.
Roth is the only outsider of the eight person senior management team named Monday 21 December. The news teams will be coordinated, but remain separate, with Bernard Rappaz heading television news and Patrick Nussbaum heading the radio team.
The complete management group:
WRS news conference
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - World Radio Switzerland (WRS), public radio in English, moves to 101.7 on the FM band 8 December, in the Geneva region, the station announced 3 December. Change your settings before next Tuesday! The move does not affect listeners who pick up WRS via online streaming, satellite, cable or DAB.
WorldRadio Switzerland, 101.7FM
The move is the result of musical chairs, or in this case FM slots, ordered by Ofcom, the federal telecommunications regulatory body. Radio Lausanne FM was awarded a license to start broadcasting in the Geneva area, but since it currently broadcasts on 88.4 in Lausanne a new slot had to be found for it: 88.4FM in Geneva, which WRS currently uses. WRS moves up as a result, to 101.7FM, currently used by Espace 2, also a member of the RSR public radio group in the region.
The changes for the three stations, in the Geneva area, will not occur at the same time:
- Thursday 3 December, Espace 2 stops using 101.7 and moves to 100.7FM
- Tuesday 8 December at midnight, WRS stops using 88.4 and moves to 101.7FM
- Tuesday 15 December, Lausanne FM starts broadcasting in the Geneva area on 88.4FM
WorldRadio Switzerland provides a mix of locally-produced news, information, entertainment and music to people who live in Switzerland. The BBC is its partner for international news and some additional programming.
Links to stations’ sites: Espace 2, Lausanne FM, WRS
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.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A former senior manager of RSR, Swiss public radio, who appealed charges of hard core pornography, lost his case Monday 16 November. He was instead given a suspended sentence and a fine for 10 days of CHF100 a day for having hard-core pornography on his office computer after the judge ruled that the man had voluntarily downloaded 13 images of 12- to 13-year-old girls involved in sexual activities.
Three towers now but new Aminona resort would build more
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Russian company scheduled to build a large luxury resort in Aminona, near Crans-Montana in Valais, has assured the local Swiss mayor the project will go ahead as planned, Swiss radio RSR reports. Stéphane Pont, the town manager of Mollens, Valais, the administrative commune in which Aminona is located, has reportedly received a letter from the CEO of Mirax giving assurances that it has the financial means to develop the area, following a rescheduling of its debt with a Russian bank.
Pont wrote to Mirax CEO Sergey Polonski earlier in September asking for clarification of the situation, following reports in the Russian media that Mirax was in financial trouble and that it had not obtained credits for its projects for several months. Mirax announced 21 September that “Alfa Bank bought the rights to Mirax Group loans from Credit Suisse in July 2009 and became the company’s largest creditor.”
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss public radio, RSR, reports that Libya is asking for CHF430,000 as a downpayment for the return of each of two businessmen who have been held in the country for over a year. Bern has not confirmed the information.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – SSR, the Swiss Broadcasting Company, is freezing salaries effective the end of 2009, as well as new hires, part of a series of measures to economize in the face of a growing deficit. The company announced Tuesday 23 June that the state-supported system will see its deficit grow from CHF200-790 million by 2014 without larger subsidies or revenues.
The salary freeze will allow the company to save CHF30 million a year, but it still needs to find another CHF40m a year to remain financially healthy.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Judge Eric Cottier in Lausanne is opening a complementary inquiry in the trial of an ex-senior manager at radio station RSR in order to clarify the role of pornographic images at the centre of the case. According to 20 Minutes the judge has complained that the case brought before him is not sufficiently clear, and he is asking the police, who confiscated the images from a company server, to bring them to the court.
Update 14:30 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Tuesday noon four countries joined the “gray” list of those willing to abide by OECD standards to exchange information on tax evasion and fraud, but who have not yet implemented the change: Costa Rica, Malaysia, Philippines and Uruguay. Switzerland was also named to this list 2 April.
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The case of an computer systems employee fired for breaching the confidentiality code at RSR, Swiss public radio, is drawing local media attention. The station itself carries a carefully worded report today, noting that last Friday, 1 March, authorities seized the files in question and are now assessing them to see if an employee downloaded pedophile materials from the Internet.
At issue is how the station handled a report from the IT employee that another employee had downloaded the files, and in particular if these were pornographic or if, more seriously, they also involved children and were therefore pedophile in nature. The fired employee is seeking a hearing for being fired unfairly and is asking for his job back. According to Le Matin last week, the employee, upset at seeing the station apparently hush up the incident, informed 800 other employees, thus breaching his contract.
The story came to light several days ago when 20 Minutes reported it. Since then, several other articles have appeared:
- 4 March, Le Matin, interview with the former RSR employee
- 4 March, Tribune de Geneve, comments from RSR boss Gerard Tschopp
