The IFAJ main hotel is the Seepark, where I’m staying. I couldn’t get internet access to work in my room but there was an extra DSL cable in the press room. Here you can see two people hard at work. On the left is Diane Johnson, executive director of the Livestock Publications Council and Mariann Back Nielsen, consultant with 2vejs kommunikation.
Reception In Uebeschi
Swiss 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.
Vice Mayor Of Thun
Next on our program opening night was Ursula Haller, vice mayor of Thun. She described what happened during the recent flooding here and how they’re dealing with it. I interviewed Ursula after she spoke.
Thun City Reception
We’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.”
First Post From Thun
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 With Greg Lamp
This 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.
Onward To Switzerland
Apparently 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.
ZimmCast Features IFAJ Congress Organizer
The 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.
Are Publishers Ethical?
Ethics 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.
Special ZimmCast With IFAJ President From Ireland
I 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.