Opfikon: Stadt-Anzeiger remains official gazette
The Opfikon Stadt-Anzeiger will remain the official gazette for the next four years - even though the newspaper is now owned by SVP Vice President Walter Frey. The voters clearly rejected an SP referendum on Sunday.
Only 564 people voted in favor of the referendum, with 1273 against. The turnout was 25.13 percent. The SP wanted to prevent the Stadt-Anzeiger from remaining an official gazette because the paper is now owned by car importer and SVP deputy leader Walter Frey. He already publishes five neighborhood newspapers in the Zurich region under the umbrella of his company Lokalinfo AG.
The party feared that the Stadt-Anzeiger could become an SVP newspaper under the new management. The SP argued that it would be naïve to believe that Frey was only buying newspapers throughout the canton of Zurich for financial reasons.
However, the municipal council did not share the concerns, which prompted the SP to launch a referendum. The voters apparently also have no objection to an SVP deputy being the owner of their official gazette.
The Stadt-Anzeiger has a circulation of 1,800 copies and is published once a week. Once a month, the newspaper is distributed to all households as a large print run. Former publisher Theophil Maag retired for reasons of age. (SDA)
Opfikon: Voters must vote on "SVP-Anzeiger"
