In the playroom of power
The media, which had presented itself as the self-appointed guardians of democracy, were reduced to pawns of the SVP during the election campaign.
Column The media, as the self-appointed guardians of democracy, have been degraded to the plaything of the SVP in the election campaign, and the parliamentary elections of 19 October also followed the trend that characterized the 1990s: the trend towards party-political polarization, the right-wing and national-conservative reshuffling of the middle-class camp and thus the weakening of the political center. As a result, the right-wing SVP has once again gained votes and seats at the expense of the liberal liberal and Christian democratic parties. This means that for the first time in its history, the SVP is not only the most popular party in Switzerland, but also has the largest parliamentary group in the Federal Assembly. Both the SVP's successful election campaign and its current fight for more government power once again underline the central role of the media - albeit as passive mouthpieces for competing opinion groups. In a media democracy, election campaigns and power struggles are essentially battles for public attention. The SVP's continued advance since the 1990s is based on the fact that it has succeeded better than its competitors in using the laws of media democracy to its advantage. It does not matter that most of the media in this country still have a left-liberal bias and are certainly not politically sympathetic to the SVP. Professional political and event marketing does not aim to achieve as much media coverage as possible, but rather as much media publicity as possible.
The SVP also won the most recent elections because it once again succeeded in attracting more media publicity - and thus also appealed most to new, floating and occasional voters in addition to its ideologically motivated and core voters. With these groups of voters in mind, the SVP organized significantly more press conferences than its competitors. Its countless podium events, always announced with snappy, provocative titles, were also aimed less at the public and more at news agencies and local and regional media coverage. No other party is more professional than the SVP in its efforts to bombard all media with avalanches of well-orchestrated "reader" letters, but also with standardized newspaper articles and interview offers - controlled by political strategists who determine which topics, messages and stories can best address potential voters through which channels. After all, no other party has invested more money in large-scale text or small picture advertisements in the final phase than the SVP.
The SVP is once again ahead in the battle for a second seat on the Federal Council that has been going on in recent days and weeks. On election Sunday, Christoph Blocher was "nominated" from above as the only candidate, and the Federal Assembly was threatened with the non-recognition of Samuel Schmid as SVP Federal Councillor in the event of Blocher not being elected. This finally promises to bring some noise and tension to the otherwise so balanced political scene in our country. That is why most of the media are unanimous in a rare display of unanimity: Blocher of all people, the master of uncompromising mockery of the government, parliament and political rivals, should be promoted to the Federal Council on the spot. And the media are also unanimous that one of the two incumbent CVP Federal Councillors should either voluntarily resign in December or else be voted out of office.
The media uncritically play along with the power game dictated by the SVP because noise and confrontation per se are highly entertaining and newsworthy. In line with the SVP, the media comments in the event of Blocher not being elected are already pre-programmed: Cowardly parliament! Fear of Blocher! Slap in the face for the people! Shame on the CVP's armchair politicians in the Federal Council! In fact, most of the media, as self-appointed guardians of democracy, have been degraded both in the past election campaign and in the current power struggle to playthings of the SVP, to vicarious agents of the party that has been running the best political marketing for years.
Postmodern siren song: SVP National Councillor Christoph Blocher skillfully uses the media to achieve his goals.
The SVP also won the most recent elections because it once again succeeded in attracting more media publicity - and thus also appealed most to new, floating and occasional voters in addition to its ideologically motivated and core voters. With these groups of voters in mind, the SVP organized significantly more press conferences than its competitors. Its countless podium events, always announced with snappy, provocative titles, were also aimed less at the public and more at news agencies and local and regional media coverage. No other party is more professional than the SVP in its efforts to bombard all media with avalanches of well-orchestrated "reader" letters, but also with standardized newspaper articles and interview offers - controlled by political strategists who determine which topics, messages and stories can best address potential voters through which channels. After all, no other party has invested more money in large-scale text or small picture advertisements in the final phase than the SVP.
The SVP is once again ahead in the battle for a second seat on the Federal Council that has been going on in recent days and weeks. On election Sunday, Christoph Blocher was "nominated" from above as the only candidate, and the Federal Assembly was threatened with the non-recognition of Samuel Schmid as SVP Federal Councillor in the event of Blocher not being elected. This finally promises to bring some noise and tension to the otherwise so balanced political scene in our country. That is why most of the media are unanimous in a rare display of unanimity: Blocher of all people, the master of uncompromising mockery of the government, parliament and political rivals, should be promoted to the Federal Council on the spot. And the media are also unanimous that one of the two incumbent CVP Federal Councillors should either voluntarily resign in December or else be voted out of office.
The media uncritically play along with the power game dictated by the SVP because noise and confrontation per se are highly entertaining and newsworthy. In line with the SVP, the media comments in the event of Blocher not being elected are already pre-programmed: Cowardly parliament! Fear of Blocher! Slap in the face for the people! Shame on the CVP's armchair politicians in the Federal Council! In fact, most of the media, as self-appointed guardians of democracy, have been degraded both in the past election campaign and in the current power struggle to playthings of the SVP, to vicarious agents of the party that has been running the best political marketing for years.
Postmodern siren song: SVP National Councillor Christoph Blocher skillfully uses the media to achieve his goals.
> Kenneth Angst worked in the editorial offices of NZZ and Weltwoche and is now an independent consultant for public affairs.
