Economy: optimistic reporting
The majority has overcome the franc shock: This was the tenor of the Swiss media in the fall. In the third quarter, the media painted a more optimistic picture of the economy than at any time since the beginning of 2015 - before the lifting of the minimum euro exchange rate.
The Swiss economy has recently clearly exceeded growth expectations, write the Research Institute for Public and Society (Fög) of the University of Zurich and the consulting firm Commslab in their Reputation Monitor Economy, which was published on Tuesday. As a result, more optimistic forecasts for economic development are increasingly being voiced again. The reputation of the Swiss economy improved by 0.9 points to minus 5 points. A value of -100 would signal only negative assessments in the media, a value of +100 only positive assessments. At present, the negative ratings still slightly predominate. However, the highest value was reached in the current year.
A perspective has become established that the franc shock of early 2015 has largely been overcome and the Swiss economy is back on track, the report says. As recently as the summer, the Brexit decision had reinforced the prevailing crisis view of the Swiss economy, according to the Monitor. This expectation has now been broken.
Luxury industry and banks in the vale of tears
In the eyes of the media, the prospects for the Swiss economy are currently still clouded by the pending implementation of the mass immigration initiative. Its consequences are considered unclear and hardly predictable. In addition, by no means all sectors are subject to the recently more positive assessment trend: The luxury industry, commodity companies and the energy sector, for example, are facing criticism. The internationally oriented Swiss banks are also increasingly caught up in a negative spiral. Despite praise, there was an increase in criticism of the Swiss National Bank's negative interest rate policy. The Reputation Monitor Economy surveys the reputation of the most important Swiss economic sectors on a quarterly basis. It analyzes media coverage of 100 companies from 17 sectors. For the third quarter, 5810 media reports were examined. (SDA)
The study included:
10 vor 10 (SRF), 20Minuten, 20minutes, Bilanz, Blick, Blick am Abend, Finanz und Wirtschaft, Handelszeitung, Le Journal (RTS), L'Hebdo, Le Matin, Le Matin Dimanche, Le Temps, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, NZZ am Sonntag, SonntagsBlick, Sonntagszeitung, Tages- Anzeiger, Tagesschau (SRF), Weltwoche, Wochenzeitung.
