Top of the week: Transparency demanded over Baz ownership structure
The Press Council is demanding that publisher Moritz Suter disclose whether he is the sole owner of the Basler Zeitung (BaZ) or whether other individuals are pulling the strings behind the scenes.
As a rule, information on the shareholding structure is sufficient to assess who controls a public limited company. This is what the Press Council writes in its decision published on Tuesday. However, the disclosure of the legal ownership structure is not sufficient if there are clear indications that the legal ownership may not correspond to the actual economic circumstances. Suter holds all the shares in National Zeitung and Basler Nachrichten, according to a BaZ press release. Basler Zeitung Medien and Basler Zeitung as well as all other companies are combined under its umbrella. With this information, BaZ has disclosed its ownership structure within the framework of what other Swiss media companies also disclose. No other media company is required to disclose financing agreements. Such a demand would massively interfere with the freedom of the media and economic freedom in Switzerland.
