Josef Ritler (born 1939 in

Naters Naters is a municipality in the district of Brig in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. On 1 January 2013 the former municipalities of Birgisch and Mund merged into the municipality of Naters, which also includes the villages of Hegdorn, G ...

, canton of

Valais Valais ( , , ; frp, Valês; german: Wallis ), more formally the Canton of Valais,; german: Kanton Wallis; in other official Swiss languages outside Valais: it, (Canton) Vallese ; rm, (Chantun) Vallais. is one of the 26 cantons forming the S ...

), also known as "Sepp Ritler" or "Seppi Ritler", is a Swiss

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, who worked as a writer and photographer for the newspaper ''

Blick ''Blick'' is a Swiss German-language daily newspaper, and online news website covering current affairs, entertainment, sports and lifestyle. History and profile ''Blick'' was established in 1959. The newspaper was the first Swiss tabloid public ...

'' for 40 years.Josef Ritler wird VJ
(October 9, 2003 (in German) Today, he works as a video journalist for the central Swiss television station Tele Tell.

Life

Ritlers was born in the canton of Valais. He went to the local primary school in his place of birth,

. Because of bullying, he was forced to change to a school in Brig. In his free time he often assisted his father in his work, who was a foreman, wanting to follow his father's profession when older. During his apprenticeship as a mason, he learnt that he had an

allergy Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derm ...

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

and had to quit the course. But he discovered his passion for

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

and began photographing everything that crossed his way. He moved to Lucerne as it was one of the few locations where photography

apprenticeships Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

were offered. When Ritler accidentally photographed a film set producing an army propaganda film for the Swiss national exhibition "Expo 64", the paper ''Blick'' became interested in hiring Ritler as a journalist. The chief editor of the time, Werner Schollenberger, invited Ritler to write for the paper. Ritler was hesitant due to the reputation of ''Blick'' as a tabloid. He eventually accepted the job offer for one year only initially. Eventually he would work for ''Blick'' for forty years. The journalist managed to become something of an intermediary between the more conservative people of central Switzerland and the modern Zurich team of ''Blick''. Ritler's character attracted a considerably amount of curiosity and trouble; on occasion he was chased by farmers with pitchforks, his tyres were slit, he received death threats and for a while was only able to work under police protection. One of Ritler's attributes is his curiosity for the "people behind the headlines", such as in the case of the chainsaw

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...

where Ritler was keen to find out more about the person behind the story. Ritler was only interested in real news. Because of that, he often held interviews after conferences, not during. When the

Kapellbrücke The Kapellbrücke (literally, Chapel Bridge) is a covered wooden footbridge spanning the river Reuss diagonally in the city of Lucerne in central Switzerland. Named after the nearby St. Peter's Chapel, the bridge is unique in containing a number ...

was on fire, Ritler was there. At the age of 64, Ritler was retired early (one year before the regular Swiss retirement age) and had to leave ''Blick''. He had a number of job offers and finally accepted the offer of Tele Tell, where he is now working as a video-journalist. For the first time, Ritler is working for TV. Within this young team, Ritler has a reputation for being a "total professional who knows central Switzerland like no one else" and who has an "eye for the perfect picture".

Awards

* 1997 "Swiss Press Foto" * 2003 "Ringier Medienpreis" * 2007 Lifetime-Award Schweizerischer Berufsfotografenverband

References

External links

Ritler's profile on the "Tele Tell"-pages
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritler, Josef Swiss television journalists 1939 births Living people