March 12, 1999, marked the launch of swissinfo.org. The news platform was the successor of Swiss Radio International, which was gradually phased out.
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After some years in the regional print and broadcast media in French Switzerland, in 2000 I joined Radio Swiss International, which then became swissinfo.ch. Since then I have been writing (and producing short videos) on a variety of subjects, from politics to business, and including culture and science.
My work is focused on making videos and podcasts about science and technology topics. I specialize in developing explainatory video formats for mobile viewing, mixing animation and documentary styles.
I studied filmmaking and animation at Zurich University of the Arts and began working as a video journalist at SWI swissinfo.ch in 2004. Since then I have specialised in creating different styles of animation for our visual products.
I am a Visual Storytelling Producer specialising in long-form and serialised multimedia productions. I collaborate with journalists to improve tools and workflows across languages, ensure content style compliance, and lead the research and implementation of innovative visual techniques.
Born in Italy and raised in Africa, I now call Switzerland home. I studied film directing at the Italian National Film School and worked as a documentary editor and director/producer in Berlin and Vienna. I specialise in crafting multimedia into engaging narratives.
Ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall and with the end of the Cold War era, international radio stations across the world had increasing problems justifying their existence.
The Swiss government, which contributed about 50% to the budget of Swiss Radio International (SRI), threatened to cut its financial support. The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation for its part showed no interest in maintaining a unit with nearly 200 staff at a cost of CHF20 million ($20 million) per year.
Upon its launch in 1999, swissinfo.org [as it was then called] produced content in German, French, English and Portuguese. One year later, sites in Italian, Japanese and Spanish followed. In 2001, content in Arabic as well as Chinese was published. And finally, Russian completed the current swissinfo.ch offer in 2013.
The offer quickly found its audience. Two years after the launch of swissinfo.ch, the site was better known among the expatriate Swiss community than the shortwave radio broadcasts that were gradually stopped. The last programme in English went out in 2004.
As a result, radio technicians had to retrain and learn new skills while journalists used to talking and making other people talk had to focus on writing texts.
Here are four stories of seasoned experts looking back on the good old days.
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.