Loved and hated press promotion
Press promotion The Swiss Press Association has formulated its wishes for the new form of press promotion. An unsuccessful last-minute veto against the unwanted media article.
Press promotion The Swiss Press Association has formulated its wishes for the new form of press promotion. An unsuccessful last-minute veto against the unwanted media article.
Although the position statement came just in time, it was no longer able to influence the will of the National Council. Last Tuesday, the Grand Chamber debated the parliamentary initiative "Media and Democracy" - and thus the draft of a new media article in the Federal Constitution. This was about a new variant of press funding, which is intended to step into the breach after the end of the postal tax reduction from 2008. 83 votes in favor of the initiative were passed by the National Council by 68 votes against. The ball is now in the court of the Council of States, which will have to decide at a later date whether a media article in the constitution that provides for direct support measures for individual press companies is appropriate.
However, this is precisely what Swiss newspaper and magazine publishers do not want. The reason for their opposition is that they fear political influence on the subsidized media as soon as state authorities decide which newspapers should be supported and how. As a counter-proposal, the Swiss Press Association has developed its own ideas on press subsidies. The new model was presented to the public for the first time at the annual congress in Interlaken by Marco de Stoppani, head of the responsible working group, and Daniel Kaczynski, managing director of the association.
The result is a basic model that relies on indirect press funding. The core of the proposal is that the state provides subsidies but does not intervene in the distribution of funds. According to the association's ideas, the entire handling is transferred to an independent foundation, thus preventing direct political influence from the outset. According to the intentions of the association's internal working group, seven to eleven foundation board members, elected for a four-year term of office, will sit on this broad-based body. Their task will be to receive, manage and distribute the funds according to the needs of the publishers.
In addition to the organizational form, which is considered particularly sensitive, the association also formulated its ideas on what would be worthy of support from 2008. In addition to distribution, three other areas are to receive funding, namely education, self-regulation and data provision. However, the total funding requirement of CHF 150 million calculated by the association envisages that the lion's share - CHF 120 million - will continue to be allocated to distribution. The 3,000 or so titles that currently benefit from postal tax reductions need not expect any negative surprises. All of them will continue to receive contributions under the new model. In individual cases, there will be even more: In addition to the principle of providing above-average support for small titles, the association is proposing to grant additional support if certain criteria are met.
Funds also for agenciesAccording to the wishes of Swiss publishers, areas and institutions close to the press that previously had to procure all of their own funds are to benefit from state subsidies from 2008: the areas of education (training institutes with the status of higher technical colleges such as MAZ and the Media Institute) and self-regulation (a cross-industry body) are to benefit from this, with a total of CHF 20 million earmarked for them. The fourth area to be supported with ten million francs is data provision. National and language-regional news, text and image agencies are to benefit from this sum, which to date - in addition to user fees - have been financed to a large extent by sponsorship and donations.
Against "subsidy hunting"
The controversial new form of press funding was the main topic of discussion twice at the association's congress: at the members' meeting and at the panel discussion the following day. Critical voices were also heard. In addition to the small publisher Urs Gossweiler from Brienz, who had already strongly opposed any form of state press funding the previous year, Filippo Leutenegger argued in a similar way. Gossweiler and Leutenegger also received support from FDP party president Christine Langenberger-Jaeger. "Subsidies provide the wrong incentives for future structural development. The fact is that subsidized areas sooner or later become structurally weak," said Leutenegger. The Jean Frey CEO also believed he already knew that parliament would not approve a foundation. "If the state gives so much money, then it wants to have control over it."
The final vote also showed how controversial opinions on press promotion are within the Swiss Press Association: 92 members voted in favor of the working group proposal, 49 against and eleven abstained.
The association now intends to present the finalized model to politicians and representatives of the authorities in the coming months. The main aim is to clarify its feasibility. A second phase involves drawing up all the documents required to establish the foundation, such as foundation deeds, guidelines and regulations.
The touchstone of lobbying: The association's leadership must campaign for a new press funding model.
Daniel Schifferle
Although the position statement came just in time, it was no longer able to influence the will of the National Council. Last Tuesday, the Grand Chamber debated the parliamentary initiative "Media and Democracy" - and thus the draft of a new media article in the Federal Constitution. This was about a new variant of press funding, which is intended to step into the breach after the end of the postal tax reduction from 2008. 83 votes in favor of the initiative were passed by the National Council by 68 votes against. The ball is now in the court of the Council of States, which will have to decide at a later date whether a media article in the constitution that provides for direct support measures for individual press companies is appropriate.
However, this is precisely what Swiss newspaper and magazine publishers do not want. The reason for their opposition is that they fear political influence on the subsidized media as soon as state authorities decide which newspapers should be supported and how. As a counter-proposal, the Swiss Press Association has developed its own ideas on press subsidies. The new model was presented to the public for the first time at the annual congress in Interlaken by Marco de Stoppani, head of the responsible working group, and Daniel Kaczynski, managing director of the association.
The result is a basic model that relies on indirect press funding. The core of the proposal is that the state provides subsidies but does not intervene in the distribution of funds. According to the association's ideas, the entire handling is transferred to an independent foundation, thus preventing direct political influence from the outset. According to the intentions of the association's internal working group, seven to eleven foundation board members, elected for a four-year term of office, will sit on this broad-based body. Their task will be to receive, manage and distribute the funds according to the needs of the publishers.
In addition to the organizational form, which is considered particularly sensitive, the association also formulated its ideas on what would be worthy of support from 2008. In addition to distribution, three other areas are to receive funding, namely education, self-regulation and data provision. However, the total funding requirement of CHF 150 million calculated by the association envisages that the lion's share - CHF 120 million - will continue to be allocated to distribution. The 3,000 or so titles that currently benefit from postal tax reductions need not expect any negative surprises. All of them will continue to receive contributions under the new model. In individual cases, there will be even more: In addition to the principle of providing above-average support for small titles, the association is proposing to grant additional support if certain criteria are met.
Funds also for agenciesAccording to the wishes of Swiss publishers, areas and institutions close to the press that previously had to procure all of their own funds are to benefit from state subsidies from 2008: the areas of education (training institutes with the status of higher technical colleges such as MAZ and the Media Institute) and self-regulation (a cross-industry body) are to benefit from this, with a total of CHF 20 million earmarked for them. The fourth area to be supported with ten million francs is data provision. National and language-regional news, text and image agencies are to benefit from this sum, which to date - in addition to user fees - have been financed to a large extent by sponsorship and donations.
Against "subsidy hunting"
The controversial new form of press funding was the main topic of discussion twice at the association's congress: at the members' meeting and at the panel discussion the following day. Critical voices were also heard. In addition to the small publisher Urs Gossweiler from Brienz, who had already strongly opposed any form of state press funding the previous year, Filippo Leutenegger argued in a similar way. Gossweiler and Leutenegger also received support from FDP party president Christine Langenberger-Jaeger. "Subsidies provide the wrong incentives for future structural development. The fact is that subsidized areas sooner or later become structurally weak," said Leutenegger. The Jean Frey CEO also believed he already knew that parliament would not approve a foundation. "If the state gives so much money, then it wants to have control over it."
The final vote also showed how controversial opinions on press promotion are within the Swiss Press Association: 92 members voted in favor of the working group proposal, 49 against and eleven abstained.
The association now intends to present the finalized model to politicians and representatives of the authorities in the coming months. The main aim is to clarify its feasibility. A second phase involves drawing up all the documents required to establish the foundation, such as foundation deeds, guidelines and regulations.
The touchstone of lobbying: The association's leadership must campaign for a new press funding model.
Daniel Schifferle
