Autonomous Province of Bozen - South Tyrol – Abteilung Generic

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Media in the Rumantschia

The Romansh press dates back to the early nineteenth century when the former Three Leagues were transformed into the Canton Grisons with its uniform organisation. In the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries numerous newspapers and periodicals were published in the Romansh-speaking part of the Grisons but just a few of these have survived to the present.
Until 1996, there were four Romansh newspapers, each written in a different variant. On 6 January 1997 the publishing House Gasser Media AG launched a Romansh daily newspaper, La Quotidiana , which partly managed to integrate the newspaper mentioned above.
The birth of La Quotidiana has been a particularly lengthy affair. Although the need for a Romansh daily had been recognised decades before and had never been challenged, one press commission followed the other and there were dummy runs of a daily newspaper in 1988 and 1992, but neither of these was followed by a regular publication. A key precondition for the establishment of a daily newspaper, was the agreement in 1996 of the Swiss Confederation and the Canton Grisons to share in the funding for a Romansh news agency, the Agentura da Novitads Rumantscha (ANR) which was established by an association called Pro Svizra Rumantscha.
The paper, which serves the whole Romansh community, encourages better comprehension of the others idioms, bringing the inhabitants of the various valleys closer to one another, and encourages the formation of a shared identity. 
Radio e Televisiun Rumantscha (RTR) is one of the business units making up the Swiss nationwide broadcasting enterprise, “SGR SSR idée Suisse”. According to the Swiss federal law on radio and television, the SRG is required to provide at least one radio channel for Romansh-speaking Switzerland. On top of that, the Swiss Federal Council (i.e.governemnt) lays down the principles to be observed in order to satisfy the radio and television needs of this language region. The term used throughout Switzerland is public service (“service public”), i.e. the provision of broadcasts to satisfy the various needs and interests of the population in all four language regions).
The first Romansh radio transmission was broadcasted in 1925, the first TV transmission followed 40 years later, in 1963.
Today Radio Rumantsch broadcasts a 24-hour programme. It offers regional, national and international news and sports, all embedded in music. RR broadcasts authentic Romansh music. (S. 67)
Televisiun Rumantschia (TvR) can be seen on the German-language television channel, SF DRS 1 (with repetitions on SFinfo and RSI LA 2). The 15-minutes-programme “Telesguard” gives topical information on the Grisons and matters of general Romansh interest and is broadcasted six times a week. Each Sunday the magazine programme “Cuntrasts” portrays the Grisons in all its variety (airtime: 15 minutes).
In the near future the radio and television programmes will be expanded, moreover, an own channel for TvR is planned.
On the broadcasting station's website Radio and Televisiun Rumantscha can be listened to or watched at any place and time.