As expected, Supino follows Lebrument

Hanspeter Lebrument was bid farewell at the VSM General Meeting after 13 years with great thanks for his services and appointed Honorary President. Beat Lauber and Andrea Masüger were elected as additional members of the Presidium. The members of the VSM approved the draft CLA that was presented. It was also decided that payments would continue to be made to the Press Council.

Hanspeter Lebrument has been positive message as President of the Swiss Media Association: "Thanks to private investment, entrepreneurial daring and enthusiastic, adaptable journalists, the Swiss media center is in a respectable condition. Accordingly, it is a pleasure to work for it. Politicians must now create a framework in which private media companies can continue to be developed and founded in the future. This is the only way to maintain the entrepreneurial and journalistic diversity of our country."

In his brief inaugural speech, Pietro Supino emphasized the importance of private media in political discourse and called for self-confidence on the part of publishers: "For more than 80 percent of voters, daily newspapers are the leading medium before votes and elections. We are proud of the trust our readers place in us. As President of the Association of Swiss Media, I want to work to ensure that Switzerland continues to offer good framework conditions for independent media and independent journalism."

Beat Lauber, who is also a member of the boards of directors of Meier + Cie. in Schaffhausen, the Mengis Group in Visp and the Zürichsee Medien Group, and Andrea Masüger, CEO of Somedia, are new members of the Executive Committee. Kaspar Surber, deputy editorial director at WOZ, did not achieve the required votes.

VSM decides to start CLA negotiations

The members have approved the draft CLA proposed by the Association's Executive Committee. According to the statement, negotiations will begin as soon as Impressum has left the association. This is a condition imposed by the VSM because, according to the association, Impressum may not be a VSM member and a CLA contract partner at the same time. A point that Syndicom and Impressum call "astonishing" and criticize. "For many decades, this membership has never been a problem for a functioning social partnership, and impressum journalists have never confused their roles. The membership has grown historically and its retention is an expression of the loyalty of media professionals to the media companies. Why membership is now suddenly a thorn in the VSM's side therefore remains unanswered for the time being," the associations write in a statement, in which they expressly welcome the start of CLA negotiations.

Payments to Press Council remain in place

The VSM General Meeting also approved the 2017 budget. Following the withdrawal of Ringier and the non-entry of Ringier Axel Springer, drastic cost-cutting measures had to be implemented. This made it possible to forego an increase in membership fees. The scope of services provided by the association remains fully guaranteed. In the run-up to the General Meeting, the Executive Committee also decided to maintain the financial contributions to the Press Council at the previous level. There is applause from Syndicom and Impressum for maintaining the payments to the Press Council. With this step, the VSM is committing itself to ethically based quality journalism, according to the associations' statement. (pd/hae)