VSM: Multi-year advertising offensive planned

The campaign will enjoy a high level of visibility throughout Switzerland, as the association wrote in a press release on Thursday. Its interactive nature shows that print advertising has a strong impact on people, brands and markets. The campaign will be complemented by other measures such as a scientifically supported advertising market study.

Abolition of indirect press subsidies would be the death of small newspapers

With regard to the current media policy debate in Switzerland, the VSM is deeply irritated in two respects by the report recently published by the Federal Media Commission (FMEC). The VSM strongly disagrees with the Commission's opinion that the reduction in postal taxes for the distribution of newspapers is ineffective and no longer in keeping with the times. The existence of a large number of regional and local newspapers would be directly threatened if this subsidy were abolished. The smaller and medium-sized newspapers make just as important a contribution to Switzerland's culture of direct democracy as the larger ones, the press release continues. The fact that a report claiming to want to promote the media focuses on a measure that contributes to the death of newspapers seems more than strange. "The association is just as astonished as the FMEC is at the clichés about the quality of the media," writes the VSM. Journalists have never been as well trained as they are today and the range of information on offer has never been as diverse as it is today.

Cooperation with SRG

The introduction of a media tax as part of the current revision of the RTVA means that in future every household in this country and all larger companies will have to pay for the SRG's public service - regardless of usage, writes the VSM. The content produced by SRG for TV and radio will thus become a common good financed by everyone. This content must therefore also be available to the general public. SRG, on the other hand, would like to monetize the services it has already paid for: By making the moving image content available to private broadcasters for their news sites and being financially compensated for this in the form of a share of the private broadcasters' online advertising revenue. This would mean that SRG would receive money twice for this content: via the media tax and via sales. The VSM is firmly opposed to this. What is paid for by the public should also be available to the widest possible public.

Talks with the trade unions

In the spirit of social partnership, the VSM is currently in talks with the trade unions on the issue of recording working hours. The association is in favor of a modern form of recording and is opposed to a rigid model that would in no way meet the needs of journalists. The discussion surrounding the recording of working hours is independent of any new collective labor agreement and must first lead to a solution that is accepted by all sides.