Aargau radio concession: Schawinski fights with concealed weapons

In doing so, it gave the impression that it was acting on behalf of the federal government. This is what Nzz.ch wrote on Friday. Roger Schawinski confirmed on request that he was behind the survey.

What was not previously known is that Bakom has asked the parties to find evidence as to whether AZ-Medien is abusing its dominant market position. As Schawinski is interested in finding evidence of abuse, he has commissioned the consulting firm Prognos to interview 30 opinion leaders in Aargau, according to Nzz.ch. The company is also said to have contacted several members of the cantonal government. However, Prognos concealed the fact that the commission came from Schawinski. Instead, the consultancy gave the impression that it was working for Bakom.

The government has now officially intervened with Prognos, as Nzz.ch writes further. It is incomprehensible "that when Prognos made contact for the interviews, the impression was created that the contact was made on behalf of Bakom", writes Aargau State Secretary Peter Grünenfelder in a letter to Prognos, which was also sent to Bakom, Wanner and Schawinski. It was only after enquiring with Bakom and Prognos that the true client was identified. The consulting company has now been asked by the government to stop the survey. All the more so, according to Nzz.ch, as the government had long since officially explained its position in the licensing dispute to Bakom - it was in favor of Radio Argovia, which belongs to the AZ-Medien Group owned by publisher Peter Wanner.

According to Nzz.ch, Roger Schawinski justified its action with the mandate from Bakom "to prove that this dominant market position is being abused". This "highly questionable" task could only be solved with the help of an anonymous study. Only under these circumstances would people from public life provide information. "Otherwise, they would be afraid of having to accept disadvantages if they spoke out against the monopoly and, for example, being blacklisted," Schawinski claims according to Nzz.ch.

Prognos confirmed that the client was not named when they were contacted. They were either told that Bakom required additional information or that a report would be prepared for Bakom based on the survey, as Nzz.ch writes. At the end of the telephone conversation, the interviewees were then told the client - if they had asked, according to study director Felix Neiger from Prognos. "We could not disclose the client to the interviewees from the outset, because otherwise they would no longer have been impartial."

Publisher Peter Wanner has more than just a shake of the head for this action. According to Nzz.ch, he describes it as "absolutely incorrect" and "questionable" to use such methods to question members of the government who have long since made public statements. "However, I am not surprised that Roger Schawinski wants to get this concession by any means necessary and is also using unfair means to do so," he says.

According to Nzz.ch, Schawinski is not happy that the survey is now being published so early. As a result, he fears that the personalities from Aargau who have not yet been interviewed will no longer be able to give unbiased answers.

Photo: Keystone