Learning from the bogeyman
Notable: Unlike Moritz Leuenberger, Christoph Blocher neither wants nor needs a Bea Tschanz. Instead of relying on PR consultants, he trusts solely in his instinct for issues. The people’s champion’s greatest asset, however, is his authenticity.
Column Unlike Moritz Leuenberger, Christoph Blocher doesn't want or need Bea Tschanz. Instead of PR consultants, he relies solely on his instinct for issues. However, the people's tribune's greatest trump card is his authenticity - is this still Switzerland? The country is literally vibrating - because of politics! On the scene: three driven people and a sly driver. And he chases the whole pack laughing through the village, exactly in the direction that suits him. Anyone who ever needs a course in agenda setting: The ideal lecturer would be Christoph Blocher. Or would he? He probably wouldn't even be able to explain why he does everything right and how the other party members regularly fall into his communication trap. The man is simply incredibly instinctive. Whether you like him and his ideas or not, you can always learn from him, but instead you insult him. No other politician has been so fiercely attacked by the media in recent years. Apart from fornication with children, they have accused Blocher of everything: Wage dumping, arms dealing, stock market speculation, neo-Nazi involvement... All howlers of air, in some cases even slander, worse than the Borer story. And how did he react? Did he take legal action? Did he at least call in advisors? Nothing of the sort. His tribunal is the public, and he contemptuously regards PR people as "façade cleaners" anyway.
You can learn, for example, that politics is nothing more than public relations work in and - above all - for itself. The fact that a politician who needs spin doctors, whisperers, hand-wringers and body-painters is no good, because sensing and (re)setting issues would actually be his genuine job, is something that a caliber like Blocher only lets his competitors feel in passing, but all the more clearly.
Switzerland's most hated politician, however, is more accessible than ever. Recently, he has even been talking to Ringier newspapers, which have been fighting him for years by stable order. Because he knows that the more willing he is to serve them, the cheaper they get his business. Blocher is an entrepreneur; from the headwind blowing in his face, he uses the reverse thrust as his own energy, so to speak.
You may or may not like him, but he shows that an authentic type is well received by the majority of the public, regardless of media influence. Other politicians also benefit from this effect: 30 years ago it was James Schwarzenbach, today it is personalities such as Kaspar Villiger, Peter Bodenmann, Ernst Mühlemann and sometimes Franz Steinegger. That's why Moritz Leuenberger now needs Bea Tschanz to finally tell him what's going on in his home market of Zurich when it comes to aircraft noise.
Politicians have always made use of the media. In the 19th century, when most of our newspapers were founded, they served as platforms and loudspeakers for the parties behind them. A lot has happened to Switzerland since then: education, mass tourism, urbanization, authority crisis, women's emancipation, consumer explosion, informatization, acceleration and global simultaneity. Today's citizens no longer need the media as pulpits or as cathedrals, but rather as search engines, as stages, at best as a mirror of the times. Smart politicians realize this. Meanwhile, the others are trying to make the media, which are no longer so easy to control, compliant with constitutional articles, the carrot-and-stick strategy of the RTVA, with treacherous press subsidies and at the same time with the club of Jacobin advertising bans.
This will probably all fail. Because the media image of the 19th century is no longer much use in the 21st century. Blocher knows that. The others still have to learn it. Whether from him or in spite of him doesn't really matter.
PS: If he conducted political business as well as he has been maneuvering the public for the past two weeks, he would make an excellent Federal Councillor!
Karl Lüönd on Christoph Blocher's sure media instinctHas Helvetia firmly under control and is a sly driver: not-yet-Federal Councillor Christoph Blocher.
> Karl Lüönd is a journalist, author and head of the Media Institute of the Swiss Press Association.
You can learn, for example, that politics is nothing more than public relations work in and - above all - for itself. The fact that a politician who needs spin doctors, whisperers, hand-wringers and body-painters is no good, because sensing and (re)setting issues would actually be his genuine job, is something that a caliber like Blocher only lets his competitors feel in passing, but all the more clearly.
Switzerland's most hated politician, however, is more accessible than ever. Recently, he has even been talking to Ringier newspapers, which have been fighting him for years by stable order. Because he knows that the more willing he is to serve them, the cheaper they get his business. Blocher is an entrepreneur; from the headwind blowing in his face, he uses the reverse thrust as his own energy, so to speak.
You may or may not like him, but he shows that an authentic type is well received by the majority of the public, regardless of media influence. Other politicians also benefit from this effect: 30 years ago it was James Schwarzenbach, today it is personalities such as Kaspar Villiger, Peter Bodenmann, Ernst Mühlemann and sometimes Franz Steinegger. That's why Moritz Leuenberger now needs Bea Tschanz to finally tell him what's going on in his home market of Zurich when it comes to aircraft noise.
Politicians have always made use of the media. In the 19th century, when most of our newspapers were founded, they served as platforms and loudspeakers for the parties behind them. A lot has happened to Switzerland since then: education, mass tourism, urbanization, authority crisis, women's emancipation, consumer explosion, informatization, acceleration and global simultaneity. Today's citizens no longer need the media as pulpits or as cathedrals, but rather as search engines, as stages, at best as a mirror of the times. Smart politicians realize this. Meanwhile, the others are trying to make the media, which are no longer so easy to control, compliant with constitutional articles, the carrot-and-stick strategy of the RTVA, with treacherous press subsidies and at the same time with the club of Jacobin advertising bans.
This will probably all fail. Because the media image of the 19th century is no longer much use in the 21st century. Blocher knows that. The others still have to learn it. Whether from him or in spite of him doesn't really matter.
PS: If he conducted political business as well as he has been maneuvering the public for the past two weeks, he would make an excellent Federal Councillor!
Karl Lüönd on Christoph Blocher's sure media instinctHas Helvetia firmly under control and is a sly driver: not-yet-Federal Councillor Christoph Blocher.
> Karl Lüönd is a journalist, author and head of the Media Institute of the Swiss Press Association.
