A gala every day!

 
Column Should TV stations - whether public or private - develop editorial vehicles to help charities fill their coffers? 
 
No, no, we dare not doubt their good will. Nor do we doubt the zeal. After all, it's a great pity that "17,000 people in their prime die of cancer every year". And that's just in Switzerland, but it's comforting to know that everyone dies once. If not from cancer, then in another way. Usually in their prime and almost always far too early. For publishers and publishing directors, at any rate, obituaries are a safe budget item. And that will remain the case.
But the zealous members of the Swiss Cancer League and the Swiss Cancer Research Foundation have taken up the fight against fate and feel let down: "Unfortunately, Swiss television is still on the sidelines in the fight against the most important cause of death in Switzerland."
Should public television, for example, stop broadcasting for two hours every day and drive viewers into the woods (watch out for ticks!) or onto training bikes in the basement? After all, exercise significantly reduces the likelihood of developing cancer.
Or should Swiss television broadcast daily films of bleeding tarry lungs or tracking shots through a diseased colon, accompanied by warnings about the dangers of smoking or eating sausages?
No, the zealous do not want deterrence, but glamor: a "cancer gala", red carpet, celebrities, cameras and chic dresses, all broadcast live at prime time on SF 1. They have become obsessed with the idea that gala shows are "great opportunities" to raise funds and reach politicians.
They collected over 20,000 signatures and presented this petition to SRG Director General Armin Walpen in mid-April. He did not even criticize the attempted interference in programming autonomy, but is said to have announced a discussion in the SRG management.
Should TV stations - whether public or private - develop editorial vehicles to fill the coffers of donation organizations?
No, certainly not.
True to the neoliberal zeitgeist, the "Krebsgala" people simply want to socialize the costs. They have so far been forced to "switch to a private channel and contribute to the production costs", they explain honestly. The previous "Gala" model: Ringier TV mobilized some of its Cervelat celebrities and produced a glittering evening entertainment show in which publisher Michael Ringier is staged as a noble donor. The whole thing was broadcast on SF 2, for which the organizer Presse TV - and indirectly Ringier TV - had already received a share of SRG licence fee money.
And last but not least, Ringier TV is asking the "Krebsgala" promoters to pay a quarter of a million francs for the special "Gesundheit Sprechstunde" show. The unpleasant conclusion for the cancer aid organizers: the net proceeds from donations are quite low.
But let's assume for a moment that TV stations would give themselves over to broadcasting "donation galas" ordered by charitable organizations. Be it the Cancer League, Lung League, Rheumaliga (rheumatism, the "number one widespread disease"), or be it Amnesty International, Caritas, Greenpeace or Terre des Hommes. Several hundred organizations are registered with the Zewo Foundation, the Swiss certification body for charitable fundraising organizations. All causes are important, all organizations must have the same rights, so we would probably have to attend a gala at least once a week. The only problem is that Ringier's entertainment papers have not yet built up enough celebrities over the past few decades to give all these "gala" events enough glamour to firstly attract viewers to the screen and secondly encourage donations. Actually comforting! Because to paraphrase Bertolt Brecht: Woe to the country that needs celebrities.
 
Hans Stutz is a freelance journalist