Yearbook "Quality of the Media": Only Seven Minutes of News a Day
The yearbook provides an assessment of media quality in Switzerland - quality has increased, but there is also cause for concern.
Since the first edition of the "Media Quality Yearbook" in 2010, the Research Center for Public Sphere and Society (Fög) at the University of Zurich has annually provided current key figures on media quality, media use, media concentration and the development of the Swiss media system. All media genres are examined. The researchers also classify trends and current events, such as the coverage of the Corona pandemic or the war in Ukraine.
Overall quality has increased
The Fög notes that the overall quality of the Swiss media has increased despite dwindling resources and that the media have done more classification work overall since the start of the Corona pandemic. The top places in the four quality dimensions of relevance, diversity, classification performance and professionalism are occupied - as in previous years - by the SRG's information programs. The best rated are "Echo der Zeit" (SRF), "Telegiornale sera" (RSI), "Rendez-vous" (SRF), "Le12h30" (RTS), "Radiogiornale 12.30" (RSI), "Tagesschau" (SRF), swissinfo.ch (SWI), "10vor10" (SRF) and "Le Journal" (RTS).
The Fög positively emphasizes the classification performance of RSI's "Telegiornale sera" - one of the reasons why this TV program has improved markedly in overall quality. swissinfo.ch is also explicitly praised for its high quality score, especially because of the relevant reporting and the further increase in background information.
Also highlighted is rtr.ch in Svizra rumantscha, which as the smallest or least resourced public online offering can compete with the larger portals srf.ch, rts.ch and rsi.ch in the quality dimensions of relevance and professionalism.
In terms of media genres, the Fög places public radio in first place, followed by public television, Sunday newspapers and magazines, SRG online portals, private television and subscription newspapers.
More news deprived
The Fög is concerned about the increase in news deprivation, i.e. the group of people undersupplied with journalistic news. 38.5 percent of the Swiss population will now belong to this group in 2022.
Young adults aged 19 to 24 would today consume an average of only seven minutes of news per day. This is mostly on their smartphones as their main information device. The Fög concludes that this has potentially serious consequences for trust in institutions and democratic participation.
The complete yearbook can be here download
