Sämi and the dogs
Samuel Schmid’s resignation, Hans-Rudolf Merz’s heart: The concept of “pack journalism,” coined by a sociologist, is also taking hold in Switzerland. Are we a pack hunting down its victims? Are we creating a frosty atmosphere like that of the Cold War? Op-ed by Jürg Altwegg, Geneva correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and author.
The president called them dogs, "des chiens". Journalists are dogs, Mitterrand once said indignantly. He formulated his scolding of journalists at the abdication following the suicide of his Prime Minister Pierre Bérégovoy. Now the concept of pack journalism, coined by a sociologist, is also finding its way into Switzerland. Are we a pack that hunts its victims? Are we creating an icy climate like during the Cold War? "Only once have the media in Switzerland written so unanimously in the same direction" as about Samuel Schmid, said his colleague Hans-Rudolf Merz, referring to the sociologist: "During the Hungarian uprising in 1956."
Everyone saw Samuel Schmid's tears - and the TV viewers also saw the nosebleeds. The photographers nobly put their cameras to one side. "The drops of blood were not politically relevant", explained the Keystone reporter in a newspaper, and by showing them, the outgoing minister would have been "visually discredited". You can look at it like this. Blick also documented the resignation with blood and tears in print. This can be seen as distasteful.
I found the media's treatment of Merz much more shocking when he was taken to hospital on a stretcher and television filmed him from the roof. Why didn't Merz protest on his own behalf when medical confidentiality and his personal dignity were systematically violated? Was he now compensating with his unspeakable comparison with the coverage of the Hungarian uprising? Perhaps we should remember what happened in this country at the time to contemporaries who did not bow to official public opinion. And professed their support for communism, for example.
I haven't read a single really bad and primitive article about Samuel Schmid that would be a matter for the Press Council. Schmid was elected to the Federal Council against the wishes of the SVP. He must have known what to expect from his friends. As an opposing figure to Blocher, he was in the spotlight more than others. And he was often glorified as a shining light. After the parliamentary coup against Blocher - which I was delighted about - it was foreseeable that Schmid would also be assigned a new role in the federal collective production. He has also made mistakes in various cases in recent months. The story took on a dynamic that led to his resignation. But a minister's media advisors should be able to see through these mechanisms. And to defuse such a situation.
The tears shocked me more than the nosebleed in my eyes. Had there also been tears after the accident in the Kander? A defense minister must not capitulate to the media and should announce his own resignation without tearfulness.
But perhaps Sämi Schmid's tears were only those of anticipation and the media were not to blame for his resignation. That's what Peter Rothenbühler suggested in his column in the French tabloid Le Matin.
Schmid's Labrador and his German shepherd had died some time ago. He was happy on his walks with them. They were the balance to his stress. But as long as he remained in office, the Minister of Defense was not allowed to get any new dogs. That's what "Vreni", his wife, and "Sämi" himself had faithfully told the journalist.
Perhaps Schmid has already got his new dogs. They will also help him to overcome the withdrawal symptoms that his resignation from the brutal spotlight will trigger. And perhaps one day a new picture of the historic farewell press conference - a communiqué would have done just as well - will emerge. The nosebleed could very well become the emblematic scene of an era: The time when political debate in Switzerland increasingly shifted to the media arena and began to resemble boxing.
Everyone saw Samuel Schmid's tears - and the TV viewers also saw the nosebleeds. The photographers nobly put their cameras to one side. "The drops of blood were not politically relevant", explained the Keystone reporter in a newspaper, and by showing them, the outgoing minister would have been "visually discredited". You can look at it like this. Blick also documented the resignation with blood and tears in print. This can be seen as distasteful.
I found the media's treatment of Merz much more shocking when he was taken to hospital on a stretcher and television filmed him from the roof. Why didn't Merz protest on his own behalf when medical confidentiality and his personal dignity were systematically violated? Was he now compensating with his unspeakable comparison with the coverage of the Hungarian uprising? Perhaps we should remember what happened in this country at the time to contemporaries who did not bow to official public opinion. And professed their support for communism, for example.
I haven't read a single really bad and primitive article about Samuel Schmid that would be a matter for the Press Council. Schmid was elected to the Federal Council against the wishes of the SVP. He must have known what to expect from his friends. As an opposing figure to Blocher, he was in the spotlight more than others. And he was often glorified as a shining light. After the parliamentary coup against Blocher - which I was delighted about - it was foreseeable that Schmid would also be assigned a new role in the federal collective production. He has also made mistakes in various cases in recent months. The story took on a dynamic that led to his resignation. But a minister's media advisors should be able to see through these mechanisms. And to defuse such a situation.
The tears shocked me more than the nosebleed in my eyes. Had there also been tears after the accident in the Kander? A defense minister must not capitulate to the media and should announce his own resignation without tearfulness.
But perhaps Sämi Schmid's tears were only those of anticipation and the media were not to blame for his resignation. That's what Peter Rothenbühler suggested in his column in the French tabloid Le Matin.
Schmid's Labrador and his German shepherd had died some time ago. He was happy on his walks with them. They were the balance to his stress. But as long as he remained in office, the Minister of Defense was not allowed to get any new dogs. That's what "Vreni", his wife, and "Sämi" himself had faithfully told the journalist.
Perhaps Schmid has already got his new dogs. They will also help him to overcome the withdrawal symptoms that his resignation from the brutal spotlight will trigger. And perhaps one day a new picture of the historic farewell press conference - a communiqué would have done just as well - will emerge. The nosebleed could very well become the emblematic scene of an era: The time when political debate in Switzerland increasingly shifted to the media arena and began to resemble boxing.
