Lobbying for SRG to remain in Bern did "not go unheard"
From the Bernese government's point of view, lobbying against the SRG top management's planned relocation of the radio department to Zurich is having an effect. The broad opposition from political Bern, the support from French-speaking Switzerland and the protest from the editorial staff "did not go unheard."
This is what the government writes in its response to a non-partisan motion by the SP, FDP and BDP, published on Tuesday. The government council thus considers the parliamentary demand to lobby the SRG "with the best possible framework conditions" for the radio studio to remain in Bern to have been fulfilled. The members of the government had held numerous background discussions with members of the strategic management level of SRG between May and August 2018.
In mid-August, a delegation from the government council also met with the SRG board of directors to communicate "its displeasure and concerns". However, the city and canton were not only active in the area of lobbying, the government writes further. They also suggested alternative locations in the Bern area to SRG. This was to show the company possibilities to accommodate the staff of the property on Giacomettistrasse in more favorable premises. This work was carried out in close consultation with the board of SRG Bern-Freiburg-Wallis as the building lease holder of the property on Schwarztorstrasse on which the radio building stands. (SDA)
