visual content. SRG SSR and private stakeholders want to work together more closely, for instance in their use of technology. Necessary or dangerous? The vote on the 200-franc initiative is piling more pressure on SRG SSR. Proponents say that the licence fees are the highest in Europe. Zurich SVP National Councillor Thomas Matter, speaking in parliament, called it a “forced SRG SSR tax” that hit young people particularly hard, since the latter hardly watch or listen to TV and radio at all anymore. He also described the tax as an “absurd burden” on companies, saying that SRG SSR should confine itself to a “core mandate”. What this mandate would look like if SRG SSR were 800 million francs short is still a matter of debate. The wording of the initiative mentions only “radio and television programmes that provide an essential service for the general public”. Currently, SRG SSR’s constitutional mandate encompasses cultural, educational and entertainment content in addition to news. Opponents of the initiative – a broad coalition of politicians from The Centre, FDP, the Green Liberals, the SP and the Greens alongside representatives of culture, sport and civil society – warn of far-reaching consequences. They claim that undermining an independent source of news at a time of growing disinformation from foreign platforms would threaten Switzerland’s security. Culture and sport would be losing a platform. And, above all, halving SRG SSR’s budget would mean it would be unable to maintain its federal structure and its four-language character, said coalition member and Centre National Councillor Martin Candinas of Grisons in parliament. Voices from the debate “Let’s finally trim down SRG SSR, with its unhealthily bloated headcount, finances and amount of power, to a sensible size.” Thomas Matter, Zurich, SVP National Councillor “The initiative would deprive SRG SSR of 800 million francs. That’s not a cutback; that’s razing to the ground. It would hit our rural regions.” Josef Dittli, Uri, FDP member of the Council of States “It’s hard to believe that, in spite of all the advances in technology, 850 million francs is not enough for a public-service broadcaster in a country of nine million inhabitants.” Lorenzo Quadri, Ticino, Lega National Councillor “Local reporting for even the smallest villages in Switzerland has not made financial sense for a long time now. Many editorial departments have vanished from rural and mountainous regions. We need SRG SSR as a regionally anchored, four-language media house.” Christine Badertscher, Berne, Green National Councillor “It is true that SRG SSR is important in the language regions that don’t have many options in terms of private media. But why should it finance such a lavish entertainment offering in German-speaking Switzerland?” Christian Wasserfallen, Berne, FDP National Councillor “Households contribute less than one Swiss franc a day in order to be able to enjoy radio and television. That is the minimum for high-quality content.” Valérie Piller Carrard, Fribourg, SP National Councillor Switzerland’s multilingual nature makes it misleading to compare the media tax with its international counterparts, opponents stress. Redistribution to linguistic minorities SRG SSR produces content for Switzerland’s four language regions, via SRF (German), RTS (French), RSI (Italian) and RTR (Romansh), and also produces content for the foreign market through swissinfo (SWI). An internal financial redistribution process ensures that linguistic minorities continue to be catered for: of the 930 million francs that the Swiss German business sector received from the media tax in 2024, 235 million went to Ticino, 115 million to the French-speaking part of Switzerland and 20 million to the Romansh-speaking part. If SRG SSR’s budget were halved, it would have to close most of its regional studios, the media department reports. It currently operates seven main and 17 regional studios. Reporting would more often take place from these centres: “There would be significantly less regional journalism.” Is Federal Councillor Paul Chaudet (1955–66) answers questions from a Swiss Radio International journalist. Archive photo: swissinfo/ provided Swiss Review / February 2026 / No.1 6 Focus
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjYwNzMx