Plans for SVP daily newspaper off the table
Last fall, party president Ueli Maurer threatened to launch an SVP daily newspaper if Christoph Blocher were not reelected to the Federal Council. Despite Blocher’s own doubts, the party leadership stuck to its plans. But now the project has been shelved. The party spokesperson says they will rely on their existing communication channels.
The Swiss People's Party (SVP) is burying its plans for its own daily newspaper. "We are not planning a newspaper at the moment," the new SVP spokesperson Alain Hauert confirmed to Werbewoche, as reported by the free newspaper 20 Minuten. "We will communicate when it makes sense; it doesn't necessarily have to be on a daily basis." The SVP is relying on the existing communication channels and wants to expand on the Internet, for example. In addition, the party does not have the editorial staff for a daily newspaper, Hauert continued. According to 20 Minuten, SVP National Councillor Christoph Mörgeli had said at the "Journalist of the Year" award ceremony that a daily newspaper was "too big a box" and too expensive. Hauert did not want to confirm that the financial aspect was the decisive factor. In September, party president Ueli Maurer announced that the party was considering launching its own daily newspaper in the event that Christoph Blocher was not re-elected as Federal Councillor. "If he is overturned on December 12, we will announce the launch of a daily newspaper the following day. The plans for this are already in the drawer," Maurer told Sonntagsblick at the time. Shortly afterwards, Blocher described the project as a hoax and expressed doubts about its feasibility due to the cost issue. Nevertheless, former SVP spokesman Roman S. Jäggi followed up and declared that they definitely wanted to launch a newspaper (see
). Hauert explained that the wind has now changed in this way by saying that the SVP, as a political party, is obliged to do political work for its voters and does not have the function of a newspaper editorial office. Accordingly, the resources would be used in the existing communication channels and the project of a daily newspaper would be put on ice.
). Hauert explained that the wind has now changed in this way by saying that the SVP, as a political party, is obliged to do political work for its voters and does not have the function of a newspaper editorial office. Accordingly, the resources would be used in the existing communication channels and the project of a daily newspaper would be put on ice.
