SRG director announces research editorial office in Bern and more series
Following criticism of the radio move from Bern to Zurich, SRG boss Gilles Marchand has announced the establishment of a new research editorial office in the capital. He is also planning a digital platform there with SRG content and subtitles for the whole country, as well as more series.
"We are not thinking of leaving Bern," the SRG Director General said in interviews with the newspapers SonntagsBlick and Le Matin Dimanche. The 56-year-old named three areas where SRG wants to strengthen its activities in Bern and announced investments of around CHF 20 million for projects.
In addition to expanding the domestic editorial team, a new research team of around 15 people is to be set up in Berne. Journalists from RTR, RSI, RTS and SRF will cover national topics across regions. Each editor-in-chief from each region will delegate two, three or four staff members, Marchand said.
All programs with subtitles
The SRG boss also promised to build a new digital platform from Berne. The idea is to develop a kind of public service along the lines of Netflix, where all SRG programs are to be offered in all languages with subtitles.
The broadcaster also wants to increase the number of television series it produces. "Currently there are three to four a year, between western and German-speaking Switzerland. I would like to have seven of them, with the possibility of using them systematically in other language regions," Marchand explained.
SRG has decided to relocate part of the SRF radio editorial team from Bern to Zurich. The transfer, scheduled to begin at the end of 2020, will affect 170 employees and is expected to result in savings of twelve million francs. 550 SRG employees will remain in Bern. In French-speaking Switzerland, the plan is to move the "News" department of RTS television from Geneva to Lausanne by 2024. The decisions prompted strong reactions at the affected sites from media professionals and politicians.
Understanding reactions
"I can understand the reactions," Marchand said in the interviews. These have a lot to do with Bern's self-image as a federal city, he said. "It is important for SRG to be well represented in Bern. And it always will be!" He hoped that discussions would soon be a little more factual.xxx Marchand asked the critics for "a little coherence." "The public service has been accused of inaction (....) We can't be told all at once that we have to prepare for the future and at the same time be told not to move." He recalled that SRG will have to save 100 million francs a year from 2019. (SDA)
