Swiss Review 2/2019

Swiss Review / March 2019 / No.2 21 As a result of the media crisis in Switzerland, publish- ers such as Tamedia now supply numer- ous local newspa- pers with identical content. Photo: Keystone and its French-speaking equivalent “Bon pour la tête” rely on good journalism to reach their respective communities. However, they are part of what is still a niche market. “As is the case with traditional media, all new online portals ultimately face the conundrum of how to pay for journal- ism. No one has found an answer yet.” Controversy over the new Electronic Media Act The Federal Council has also recognised that something needs to be done. Last summer before her resignation, me- dia minister Doris Leuthard (CVP) gave the green light for consultation on the newdraft ElectronicMedia Act (EMA), which stipulates that the 365 Swiss francs that every Swiss household pays for public service broadcasting apply not only to radio and television but also to online media, pro- vided that the content is primarily audiovisual. By differ- entiating, the Federal Council wants to protect the press from subsidised competition. Switzerland’s publishers are sceptical about the Fed- eral Council’s proposals – nor do they want any direct press subsidies for that matter. Instead of “subsidising new online services that distort the market”, the federal government should instead help the private media sector to “manage the digital transformation”, writes the Swiss Media Association, which is headed by Tamedia’s Chair- man of the Board of Directors, Pietro Supino. Specifically, publishers are calling for indirect press subsidies to in- crease markedly from 30 to 120 million Swiss francs per year. In addition to reducing postal tariffs, such subsidies would help to pay for early-morning deliveries of daily newspapers. This would benefit all the major publishers – including the Tamedia Group, a company that made a net profit of 170million Swiss francs in 2017. Switzerland’s biggest media company generates earnings through com- mercial digital services such as the job advertisement platform Jobcloud. Critics accuse Tamedia of no longer in- vesting in its actual core business – journalism – while still insisting that the government provide indirect sub- sidies. However, in his capacity as President of Media Forti, Puppis says that the EMA is a “missed opportunity”. Media Forti is a civil society organisation that supportsmedia pol- icies “in the public interest” aswell as “democracy-relevant journalism for the digital age”. In particular, Puppis be- lieves that the EMA is squandering the chance to secure di- rect funding for online journalism as a whole, not least be- cause thiswould also enable local and regional newspapers to keep pace with digitalisation. Furthermore, the EMAmight potentially be a source of party-political friction. Switzerland’s conservative-lean- ing parties want fewer media subsidies, while their coun- terparts on the left want more. Parliament is unlikely to look at this contentious issue before the end of the year – unless Leuthard’s successor, Simonetta Sommaruga (SP), has a rethink.