French-speaking cantons to take joint approach to press promotion
According to Geneva city councillor Sami Kanaan (SP), the French-speaking cantons should coordinate better when it comes to press funding. He envisions a model based on the French-speaking Swiss Cinema Foundation (Fondation romande pour le cinéma).
At the moment, everyone is cooking their own soup, he said in an interview with the daily newspaper Le Temps on Tuesday. There is regular contact between the cantons of Geneva and Vaud in this area, particularly within the framework of the Conference of French-speaking Swiss Governments. However, the SP politician sees room for improvement. A corresponding meeting will take place shortly.
Meanwhile, the city of Geneva has taken its own measures to help the beleaguered sector. The package agreed on Monday amounts to around 80,000 francs.
The most concrete measure is the abolition of charges for newspaper boxes from the beginning of June. There are around 800 such boxes in the city. In 2018, the City of Geneva collected around CHF 40,000 from this fee.
In mid-January, the cantonal government of Vaud presented its press promotion plan. The canton intends to support local and regional media with CHF 6.2 million over the next five years. The cantonal parliament still has to approve the plan. (SDA)
