Media Commission does not want to save journalism with bans
The media landscape is changing rapidly. Even the Federal Media Commission (EMEK) does not know exactly where this is all headed. From its perspective, this makes a solid institutional framework all the more important.
In a position paper published on Monday, the FMEC outlines three different scenarios for the development of the Swiss media landscape over the next 10 to 15 years. The optimistic scenario assumes that journalism will utilize the new digital possibilities and thus retain its current function and importance.
However, the FMEC also believes that independent journalistic services could be largely replaced by alternative offerings. These could be blogs, automatically prepared information, commercial content or even political propaganda. This would marginalize journalism in the traditional sense.
Vital for democracy
In the most pessimistic scenario, this development goes so far that only journalistic niche offerings survive. Such a development is undesirable "for the functioning of Switzerland", according to the report. In the view of the FMEC, a diverse media offering remains necessary in terms of democratic policy and indispensable for the cohesion of the country.
Against this backdrop, the Commission formulates recommendations for market participants and politicians. Among other things, it proposes the creation of an independent regulatory authority that would be entrusted with direct media promotion. The FMEC had already formulated this recommendation in its 2014 public service report.
The same applies to the proposal that the federal government should support media infrastructure facilities and industry regulation. A state-independent media foundation could define the necessary requirements for media funding. This would involve, for example, minimum standards for the production of content. According to the FMEC, journalistic content could also be differentiated from blogs, marketing and other offerings with a certificate.
New constitutional basis
The Commission also recommends not only extending the self-regulation of the press to all journalistic content, but also including social media platforms and search engines. However, it is aware that their regulation is not possible at national level.
In this context, the FMEC calls for a broad discussion on what content is considered acceptable in mass and individual communication. In order to institutionalize this, a communication council should be created.
Despite its willingness to regulate certain areas, the EMEK is skeptical of bans to curb the excesses of digital communication. Instead, it would like to facilitate access to democratically relevant content and independent information. The framework conditions for this could be laid down in a new constitutional basis. (SDA)
