Reception In Uebeschi

Chuck Zimmerman

IFAJ-4Swiss hospitality! After our city reception in Thun, we went up the mountainside a little ways to Gasthof Weyersbuhl, a beautiful little house/farm for another reception and dinner. We started out with some refreshments which were different fruit juices but not what we in America would call fruit punch. I really don’t know what they were but they were good.

IFAJ

Thun City Reception

Chuck Zimmerman

IFAJ-1We’re rocking now. I’m in the IFAJ press room at the Seepark Hotel. Thank goodness for working internet access! We got in yesterday just in time to make it to the opening reception in Thun in a historic old building. We had wine, bread and cheese (Swiss cheese). To get us started at the Rathaus the president of the Swiss Ag Journalists, Adrian Krebs, welcomed us and told us to “stay on time.”

IFAJ

First Post From Thun

Chuck Zimmerman

Hello from IFAJ Congress 2005 in Thun, Switzerland! What a day. Sorry I don’t have more up yet but our flight out of New York was delayed almost 4 hours. Then when we got here we had to take off for the first activities of the event. I have lots of material that I’ll be putting up tomorrow. It’s after 11pm here now and I’m using a press room computer that’s not set up for the standard english person like me. That means some keys are in different places and hard to find at this time of night if you know what I mean.

IFAJ

IFAJ With Greg Lamp

Chuck Zimmerman

IFAJ Congress 2005This might be my last post before heading to the airport on the way to the IFAJ Congress. To get you in the mood I’ve got my interview in the form of a special ZimmCast with Greg Lamp, editor of Corn & Soybean Digest. Greg will be on the trip and is on the IFAJ executive committee, representing the United States.

Audio, IFAJ, Publication

Onward To Switzerland

Chuck Zimmerman

Thun, SwitzerlandApparently Thun, Switzerland didn’t look this serene last week as the rain was falling. Little did we know that there was serious flooding until getting an email from the IFAJ organizing committee that our hotels aren’t affected.

IFAJ

ZimmCast Features IFAJ Congress Organizer

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 30The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress 2005 is getting closer. In this week’s ZimmCast I interview one of the organizers. He’s Markus Rediger, Agricultural Information Center, from Switzerland. I met Markus at the Ag Media Summit and he clued me in on what we have to look forward to and why he thinks any ag journalist should consider attending.

Audio, IFAJ, Podcasts, ZimmCast

Are Publishers Ethical?

Chuck Zimmerman

Ag Media Summit WorkshopEthics again. I interviewed David Markey by phone a few days ago at his office in Dublin, Ireland and now he’s here in the states. He just gave a workshop on “Can Publishers Afford To Be Ethical?” It’s clear that the whole issue is very “unclear.” However, in his publication group everything is run by his editors. He issues no mandate from on high. As we heard yesterday at the ARC meeting and again today, there’s just more and more pressure being put on ag media to run public relations material. I thought it was very interesting that although David will publish an advertorial he charges 25 percent more to the advertiser. Makes sense to me.

Ag Media Summit, IFAJ

Special ZimmCast With IFAJ President From Ireland

Chuck Zimmerman

International Federation of Agricultural JournalistsI hope you like an Irish accent because you’ll get one in this special edition ZimmCast. The president of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists is David Markey. He’s CEO of IFP Media in Dublin, Ireland and he’s my guest in this interview program. He’s also presenting at the Agricultural Media Summit that gets underway this weekend. I caught up with him in his office and I think you’ll enjoy hearing him talk about IFAJ and why it’s good for us to get together and trade information from around the world.

Ag Media Summit, Audio, IFAJ, ZimmCast

IFAJ Photo Contest Entries Available Online

Chuck Zimmerman

International Federation of Agricultural JournalistsEverybody like to look at pictures so take a look at the entries to the IFAJ Photo Contest. They have some good ones to judge. Hopefully we can enter next year. The awards will be presented at the upcoming 2005 IFAJ Congress which we’ll be blogging.

IFAJ