Showdown in the Federal Parliament
Christoph Blocher, the favorite enemy of the politically correct standard media, becomes Minister of Justice. An opportunity for the media to (self-)critically rethink their left-liberal Blocher reflex. And for readers to form their own opinions.
Column Christoph Blocher, the favorite enemy of the politically correct standard media, becomes Minister of Justice. An opportunity for the media to (self-)critically rethink their left-liberal Blocher reflex. And for readers to form their own opinion: they have been writing against him for many years, and now Christoph Blocher has become Federal Councillor after all. In future, they will probably have to show him the minimum respect that his high office deserves. This hurts the politically pious soul of journalists - so much so that they will continue to accompany the unpopular magistrate with suspicion and malice in reserve. The businessman elected as minister presented a well-prepared succession plan for his chemical company - and made a 34-year-old woman, who is his daughter, its boss. However, the right-wing outsider, who is notorious for being reactionary and patriarchal, was asked about theoretically possible conflicts of interest, but not about the obvious contrast to the generally deplored discrimination against women. In the edition of "10 to 10", the dismantling of the ladies Metzler and Beerli was once again mourned with trembling indignation. However, the fact that someone like Blocher of all people had elevated a woman to the top position was not commented on. It could/must have turned out positively. And that still seems to be forbidden.
This latest flowering of the journalistic Blocher reflex is reminiscent of the old Furgler joke. Kurt Furgler decides to walk across the water and invites cameramen and reporters to join him. He enters the Aare and reaches the other bank with dry feet. The headline under the photo the next day reads: "Blick proves: Furgler can't even swim!"
Press and TV people are socialized in packs, as we all know; that's why they are used to following leading wolves, who are sometimes also called "journalistic leaders". And because almost all journalists (sorry: journalists) have studied almost the same thing, because they almost all live in lofts in Zurich West, because they (with 13 or 14 x 9000 plus company car) will soon be calling another strike for minimum wages - in short: Because they are almost all knitted with the same needle, they have also almost all internalized the same stuffy, socially secure terraced house socialism, which the valiant Robert Nef rightly assigns to a ubiquitous "governmental-media-educational complex".
Two years ago, Eric Hoesli, editor-in-chief of Le Temps, used surveys to prove that Swiss journalists are much further to the left than their readership. Now, no one is asking them to talk at the mouth of their readers. It would be enough if they would at least temporarily separate their professional duties from their own ideological impregnation.
Blocher and the press - this has always been a symptomatic, exciting and sometimes amusing duel. And will probably remain so for the time being. If Blocher wasn't completely resistant to advice, he would have at least occasionally pretended to take the press seriously in all his interviews. But I haven't read, heard or seen a single Blocher answer that didn't have that subliminally mocking tone: "Go ahead and ask, you little sausage, you have no idea anyway..."
Unfortunately, he was all too often right: time and again, the quality of the questions revealed that the politically correct, i.e. semi-leftist, attitude is usually more firmly established than the specialist and background knowledge. Also, the willingness to apply pre-cut thinking and writing templates was and is greater than the desire for unbiased (self-)reflection. However, this is essential in order to be able to pose and comment on the questions that need to be clarified in the new year in an informed manner. Will Blocher appoint a media spokesperson and if so, who? And what is he doing with the legions of "façade cleaners" (Blocherian for PR consultants) in his widely ramified justice and police department? In other words: Will he be stronger than the apparatus and resist the temptations of the classe politique in the longer term? Affaire à suivre...
> Karl Lüönd is a journalist, author and head of the Media Institute of the Swiss Press Association.
This latest flowering of the journalistic Blocher reflex is reminiscent of the old Furgler joke. Kurt Furgler decides to walk across the water and invites cameramen and reporters to join him. He enters the Aare and reaches the other bank with dry feet. The headline under the photo the next day reads: "Blick proves: Furgler can't even swim!"
Press and TV people are socialized in packs, as we all know; that's why they are used to following leading wolves, who are sometimes also called "journalistic leaders". And because almost all journalists (sorry: journalists) have studied almost the same thing, because they almost all live in lofts in Zurich West, because they (with 13 or 14 x 9000 plus company car) will soon be calling another strike for minimum wages - in short: Because they are almost all knitted with the same needle, they have also almost all internalized the same stuffy, socially secure terraced house socialism, which the valiant Robert Nef rightly assigns to a ubiquitous "governmental-media-educational complex".
Two years ago, Eric Hoesli, editor-in-chief of Le Temps, used surveys to prove that Swiss journalists are much further to the left than their readership. Now, no one is asking them to talk at the mouth of their readers. It would be enough if they would at least temporarily separate their professional duties from their own ideological impregnation.
Blocher and the press - this has always been a symptomatic, exciting and sometimes amusing duel. And will probably remain so for the time being. If Blocher wasn't completely resistant to advice, he would have at least occasionally pretended to take the press seriously in all his interviews. But I haven't read, heard or seen a single Blocher answer that didn't have that subliminally mocking tone: "Go ahead and ask, you little sausage, you have no idea anyway..."
Unfortunately, he was all too often right: time and again, the quality of the questions revealed that the politically correct, i.e. semi-leftist, attitude is usually more firmly established than the specialist and background knowledge. Also, the willingness to apply pre-cut thinking and writing templates was and is greater than the desire for unbiased (self-)reflection. However, this is essential in order to be able to pose and comment on the questions that need to be clarified in the new year in an informed manner. Will Blocher appoint a media spokesperson and if so, who? And what is he doing with the legions of "façade cleaners" (Blocherian for PR consultants) in his widely ramified justice and police department? In other words: Will he be stronger than the apparatus and resist the temptations of the classe politique in the longer term? Affaire à suivre...
> Karl Lüönd is a journalist, author and head of the Media Institute of the Swiss Press Association.
