Fög findings: Syndicom concerned

More and more people are turning away from the traditional information media in the press, radio and television and instead informing themselves via social media and the Internet, where, however, they mainly consume soft news and entertainment (Werbewoche.ch reported). The business of globalized media use is dominated by a few tech giants; Google and Facebook siphon off the lion's share of advertising revenue, which is lost to the traditional media. Some Swiss media companies continue to earn a lot of money, but in other business areas - which is why they are increasingly depriving editorial teams of the resources they need. Media publishers have so far failed to attract younger generations to informative media content and to overcome the free unculture, Syndicom said in a statement.

The Public and Society Research Institute also diagnoses that information media are becoming more susceptible to economic and political influence, which could be exemplified by the widely adopted fundamental criticism of SRG by right-wing conservative circles.

The six yearbooks published so far analyze a continuously declining quality of media content: The classification services of journalists suffer the most - due to the lack of financial, personnel and time resources in the editorial offices.

According to Syndicom, many of the findings in the yearbook are alarming and point to sore points that the industry should not ignore. Media professionals must take a closer look at the changes in their industry, the union demands: "They play a decisive role in society and democracy, which must not be further weakened, but finally strengthened again. The media professionals themselves must also emphatically demand that new resources for journalistic work be built up - both through an increase in the number of positions in the editorial offices and with regard to the working conditions of permanent and freelance employees.

It does the industry no good if the editorial teams join in the chorus of their employers, who stylize the SRG as an enemy image. The public service, which is provided by the public channels, especially in the area of information, needs their support. In doing so, they were not diminishing the function of the private media. But if some independent media companies could no longer finance their information tasks, it would be necessary to clarify under what conditions direct media subsidies could be introduced.