Newspapers look ahead after losing vote
The rejection of additional media subsidies has met with a mixed response from Swiss daily newspapers. While the big publishers have missed passion, the medium-sized and smaller newspapers are looking at an uncertain future.
Newspapers in German-speaking Switzerland are rather sober in their comments on the outcome of the referendum on media subsidies. Passionate debates about the cohesion of the country were absent this time, says the Tages-Anzeiger fixed.
The arguments as to why the fourth estate in the state was in urgent need of support were not convincing. It remains to be clarified whether the rejection is the result of a deeper dissatisfaction with the Swiss media or not.
Questionable in terms of regulatory policy
There is a sigh of relief at the New Zurich Newspaper to feel. It was good that the majority of the electorate had said no to the media package. The bill was more than questionable in terms of regulatory and government policy. Parliament had overloaded the cart.
It is possible that the rejection of additional financial aid is also a reaction to the reporting in the Corona period. The credibility of the media has been put to the test in the last two years. The closeness to the state has shaken trust.
Of a different opinion is the View. The rejection of the media law was clear, but not a vote of no confidence. The pandemic had shown that most people sought information from the established media during the crisis.
Demand for ancillary copyright
In fact, the media are not suffering from the fact that they are losing readers and viewers, but rather that advertising is flowing to Google, Facebook and others. Now more than ever, the Swiss media are calling for a performance protection law.
The Schaffhausen News already see a silver lining on the horizon. The opponents of the media package had always been uncontroversial about extending the support contributions in delivery for small and medium-sized publishers.
The newspapers hardly mention the Röstigraben, which is evident, for example, in the voting results in the cantons of Valais and Fribourg. While the German-speaking minority in these cantons voted against the additional media subsidy, the French-speaking part voted in favor of the package.
French-speaking Swiss newspapers see gap
The vote on the media law shows once again that the electorate dislikes packages that are too big, writes the Westschweizer daily Le Temps. The Federal Council and Parliament must listen better in the future, otherwise the gap between the elected representatives and the population will become even wider.
The newspaper 24 Heures looks ahead and holds that in the near future, the press would have to get by without new financial resources in order to distribute the good old newspaper to mailboxes at a reasonable price - in the city as well as in the countryside, and with rising paper prices. With or without help, the editorial offices would continue to inform with passion and independence. (SDA)
