Publishers and SRG move closer to joining the Press Council
There has been an ongoing debate for some time about whether the SRG and newspaper publishers can join the Press Council. Now it appears that progress is being made: The journalists’ self-regulatory body announced that an agreement on the details had been reached with the parties involved in early March.
The debate about whether the SRG and newspaper publishers should be allowed to join the Press Council has been simmering for some time. Now it seems to be taking a step forward: Agreement was reached with the parties on the modalities at the beginning of March, the self-regulatory body for journalists announced on Thursday. However, the approval of the journalists' associations is still pending. Negotiations between the Foundation Board of the Swiss Press Council and the SRG and the Swiss Press Association on the latter's accession to the Press Council's sponsorship initially failed last autumn: there was no agreement on the demarcation between the complaints procedure before the Press Council and the program law procedures at ombudsman offices and the Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television. In the meantime, however, a joint agreement has apparently been reached.
The expansion of sponsorship is now being discussed once again by the previous sponsors, the four journalist associations. They had postponed the decision last fall (see
The CLA as a bargaining chip
). The Board of Trustees of the Swiss Press Council Foundation will make a final decision at the beginning of June 2008. In the event of a yes vote, implementation of the expansion of sponsorship should begin on July 1, 2008.
The expansion of sponsorship is now being discussed once again by the previous sponsors, the four journalist associations. They had postponed the decision last fall (see
The CLA as a bargaining chip
). The Board of Trustees of the Swiss Press Council Foundation will make a final decision at the beginning of June 2008. In the event of a yes vote, implementation of the expansion of sponsorship should begin on July 1, 2008.
