Second Swiss Media Forum on media, business and politics

"We heard inspiring presentations and had controversial discussions," said Forum President Andreas Binder. Highlights were the appearances by Jill Abramson, editor-in-chief of the New York Times, and Joschka Fischer, former German foreign minister. Abramson promoted the paywall, saying it was the only way to finance quality journalism online. Joschka Fischer warned of the dramatic consequences of Greece leaving the euro: politicians and the media had not yet recognized the seriousness of the situation. Fischer pleaded for a political union and a fiscal union, and he drew parallels with the USA, where individual states would have gone bankrupt in the 18th century if the federal government had not been founded to guarantee the solvency of the member states.

Poor quality of online media
In his speech at the Swiss Media Forum, Fischer warned politicians not to become dependent on the media like Christian Wulff. "If you ride up in the elevator with the Bild newspaper, you'll ride back down in the elevator with it," he said. He finds party journalism boring and considers the American Fox News channel, for example, to be a "propaganda channel". Politicians often overestimate the influence of the media, he said. "The media is important, but you can also win election campaigns against the majority of the media, as the red-green party in Germany proved in 2002." Fischer criticized the new media and social media. "I question whether politicians really need to be active on social media. It doesn't make them any better." The quality of journalism in the printed press is still significantly higher than on the Internet. "Take a look at the reader comments on online portals. People often just empty their stomachs." Fischer longs for the good old readers' letters page, which is managed by an editorial team. "Today, they only filter out what is unlawful."

The journalist as street musician
Fischer often feels sorry for journalists: "It used to be a respectable profession. Today, the journalist reminds me of a musician at the fair who plays the accordion and has to play the monkey at the same time." Fischer went on to say that it was devastating how the foreign editorial offices had been thinned out. Quality is suffering. "If there is a journalistic race to the bottom, then the quality of political debate and ultimately democracy will also suffer." This can already be seen in the Bundestag. There is no young politician in any party who primarily distinguishes themselves through their foreign policy expertise.