"The media landscape suffers from greed for profit and political calculation"
The media unions are concerned after Christoph Blocher's deal with Tamedia for the takeover of the Basler Zeitung by the Zurich-based company. The media would have to suffer under the greed for profit of the big publisher and under the political calculations of the SVP-supremacist. The Basel cantonal government is worried about jobs.
Government Councillor Christoph Brutschin, as head of the Department of Economic Affairs, Social Affairs and the Environment also responsible for media, was not surprised by the takeover when asked by the news agency SDA on Wednesday.
His concern is now the jobs, where he expects Tamedia to proceed carefully. He also said that local reporting should not be limited to politics, but should also include business and culture in the future.
It is regrettable that national issues will probably no longer be examined from Basel's point of view if the Federal Parliament editorial office of the BaZ will be replaced by one geared to a broader regional spectrum. It remains to be seen whether, after the takeover in the BaZ again "a broader spectrum of opinion" is reflected.
Profit and politics
The media union Syndicom sees the sale of the Basel Newspaper as a symptom of the worrying state of the Swiss media landscape. Media concentration is driven by greed for profit and political calculation.
Tamedia, on the one hand, is strengthening its supremacy in the daily press, although the publishing house already holds 40 percent of the market in German-speaking Switzerland and 68 percent in French-speaking Switzerland. At the same time, Tamedia was depriving the publishing core business of funds with cost-cutting programs, pressure on returns and exaggerated executive salaries and was exacerbating the impoverishment of media diversity.
"SVP billionaire Christoph Blocher", on the other hand, is expanding the free newspaper empire he bought together in 2017, Syndicom continues to criticize. There is no doubt that he will use the empire as a propaganda tool for his campaigns as needed.
His calculations are likely to work out better with the free papers than with BaZ, whose readership refused to follow Blocher's course and plummeted by half.
Gratisanzeiger concentration with Blocher
The journalists' organization Impressum is demanding that Tamedia maintain the job budget in Basel and not install a purely local editorial office, as would otherwise be in line with the group's strategy.
The takeover of further free newspapers by Blocher worries Impressum. The former Federal Councilor now controls a large part of the free newspapers in German-speaking Switzerland. He is also taking over the two largest local newspapers in French-speaking Switzerland.
There was a danger that he would use them for political propaganda. The billionaire could prove his democratic convictions by publicly guaranteeing the editorial and political independence of all his free papers.
"Bored out"
The Juso Basel-Stadt reacted with the words "it's poked its hole". The SVP strategist had ruined the BaZ and was now getting rid of the clog on his leg. The fact that he is selling the paper shows that he never wanted media diversity, but only a mouthpiece.
The takeover by Tamedia would in all likelihood bring massive restructuring. BaZ would take over Tamedia's national shell, and layoffs would be the consequence. A good social plan would be necessary here. And in general, the sale would be a further step towards a media landscape dominated by Tamedia and AZ Medien.
Zurich Greens hand over glue
The Green Party of the City of Zurich is appalled by the takeover of the official gazette Tagblatt of the City of Zurich by the "Blocher media empire". The right-wing bourgeois press is thus setting foot in the city. Lokalinfo AG is already in SVP hands. Media diversity is already under pressure from the bourgeoisie - "see SDA," the communiqué says.
In order to oppose the system designed to Blocher's liking, the Daily Gazette the party secretariat is now handing out stickers for the mailbox. "No to Blocher propaganda. No to the Tagblatt" is intended to prevent the letter carriers from dropping it in.
The Zurich City Council already stated on March 21 in its response to a parliamentary question that the "Tagblatt" was contractually obligated to provide factual as well as politically and journalistically balanced reporting. Also Daily Gazette-Chief Executive Officer Lucia Eppman underscored this commitment from the gazette contract in an interview with the online site of the Aargauer newspaper.
