Federal Council decision: "Good news" for news agency Keystone-SDA

With the amendment to the ordinance adopted on Wednesday, the Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (DETEC) will be able to conclude a service agreement with a national agency such as Keystone-SDA in future. Up to two million francs a year from the reception fee for radio and television will be available for this purpose. Keystone-SDA had submitted "an application for the greatest possible support" to the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom), said Rechsteiner. They were now waiting for Bakom to contact the management or the Board of Directors on behalf of the Uvek.

It is not yet known what a future service agreement might look like. However, the Federal Council sets out a number of conditions in the explanatory report: For example, the agreement can only be concluded with a news agency of national importance "that provides independent, journalistically professional and democracy-relevant information services on Switzerland and abroad in all official languages". This also includes an appropriate local-regional anchoring in order to cover events in all regions of Switzerland. This is intended to promote the regular exchange of information between parts of the country and regions and national cohesion.

Splitting is being discussed

According to Rechsteiner, a project idea to split the agency into a commercial section and a news section is also being discussed. This would allow the non-profit part of the company to benefit from subsidies. The Board of Directors has taken note of the project, but has not yet discussed its content. Initial decisions are not expected until the end of the year at the earliest.

Keystone-SDA is currently the only national news agency. Support could be provided from 2019 for an initial period of two years. After that, the service agreement could be renewed. This regime may be replaced by the new Media Act. This will provide a legal basis for supporting non-profit news agencies. (SDA)