Imprint: Freedom of the press threatened in Switzerland

Freedom of the press is a foundation of Swiss direct democracy, yet it is violated by the authorities. Even media companies themselves are increasingly interfering with editorial freedom - justified by economic constraints. According to Impressum, the media can only protect themselves from this with new sources of funding - for example, through media subsidies. Imprint writes:

"In the Rocchi case, the protection of sources was undermined by a criminal investigation by the Neuchâtel public prosecutor's office, without any of the preconditions that allow an exception in Article 28a (2) of the Criminal Code. And with the house search, the authority immediately chose the harshest means in question. In addition to the hard blow against a journalist and the freedom of the media, the ease with which the Attorney General Aubert finds "(...) If you violate your official secrecy in favor of a journalist, this can bring you problems (...)", provided that "(...) a criminal complaint has a minimum of credibility (...)" is outrageous. With this, the state representative openly questions the meaning of editorial secrecy, which is guaranteed in the Federal Constitution (excerpt from interview, TSR, 18.8.2013, free translation from French).

In addition to the state threat, there is also the economic threat to media freedom. More and more frequently, journalists testify that it is not possible for them to publish certain reports in the media because this could endanger the economic foundations of the media company - for example, by upsetting an advertising customer. This erosion of editorial independence is insidious, subtle and difficult to prove - and therefore at least as dangerous as state intervention. The University of Fribourg, together with impressum, is preparing a study that should shed more light on these interrelationships; initial results should be available before the end of 2014.

The reason for this development is that the economic conditions of private media companies are deteriorating rapidly, and there is no end in sight. Further cuts in editorial independence can only be prevented if the economic basis of media companies is strengthened. Media freedom is a need of the state and society - which is why it must be openly discussed whether the state and society would have to finance it more, for example, through press subsidies.

At the conference on press freedom in Lausanne on September 24, 2014, organized by impressum in partnership with Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), Amnesty International (AI), Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the University of Fribourg, the development of press freedom will be reviewed, and various knowledgeable and prominent personalities will speak and present proposals on how to stop the negative spiral."