"Journalism is still a great profession" - Reto Lipp on the Communication Summit 2025

The media world is facing fundamental changes. Whether it's AI-driven news, falling advertising revenue or the increasing influence of tech companies - the framework conditions for independent journalism are changing rapidly. But how can the media maintain their credibility and diversity? What responsibility do platforms like Google and Microsoft have? And what does this mean for the next generation of media professionals? At the Communication Summit 2025 experts from journalism and communication will discuss these questions. Reto Lipp will chair the high-caliber panel. In the run-up to the Communication Summit 2025, he answered m&k's questions about the changes in journalism, the role of tech companies and the importance of authentic voices.

m&k: Mr. Lipp, you can look back on a long career in journalism. Do you remember your first interview as a media professional at Radio Z? What particularly impressed or influenced you back then?

My very first assignment as a news presenter was practically on the first day when Radio Z went on air. It wouldn't have been my turn yet, but my predecessor had a kind of panic attack in front of the microphone, so he just put the news in my hand and said: you have to do this now. That's how I stumbled onto the microphone - and today, 42 years later, I'm still working behind a microphone.

You have moderated many panel discussions. What makes an exciting panel discussion for you? And how challenging is it to provide new, unexpected impetus in a panel like this one?

It is very important in discussions that the participants engage authentically with a topic. Unfortunately, many people today - especially business leaders and top managers - rely on their communication agencies to provide them with ready-made lines of argument. They then reel these off, which means that they come across as untrustworthy and inauthentic to the public. The audience gets bored with PR-driven answers and switches off. I always get the best ratings when experienced SME entrepreneurs talk straight from the horse's mouth about their experiences and their lives. This always has a completely different effect than the PR answers of employed managers who just don't want to expose themselves.

Media research often provides exciting insights into user behavior and trends. Nevertheless, one sometimes wonders how accurate such studies really are. Where do you see the biggest blind spots?

I am highly critical when we as journalists get involved in only covering topics that supposedly achieve high usage figures, ratings or clicks. This leads to the proverbial lemming effect. Everyone reports on the same thing. This further reinforces the impression that the traditional media always pick up on the same topics and copy each other. This ultimately prevents diversity. Sometimes you can't ignore certain topics, but we shouldn't encourage this.

The Swiss media landscape is comparatively small and closely networked. Some speak of limited innovative strength because established players are often too close to each other. How can genuine media diversity be promoted without economic interests dominating?

We are simply a very, very small market. And of course the commercial problems that all media companies, including SRG, are facing mean that there is even less experimentation. Or that patience with new formats is in a very small place. Sometimes you have to wait years for a format to be successful and establish itself on the market. Media managers today often no longer have this patience. No experiments, please. Anything that doesn't pay off quickly will quickly disappear. Journalism is undoubtedly in a serious crisis.

 Technology companies such as Microsoft are increasingly influencing access to information. What responsibility do tech companies bear for the quality and diversity of journalism? And how can they be held accountable?

Journalism today is of course increasingly driven by technology. Artificial intelligence will once again massively shake up and change journalism, like every other industry. Although we are getting a tool that makes us much faster and more productive, it also means that the number of journalistic jobs will continue to decrease. Will AI put together an individual digital newspaper or even an individual TV program for us in the future? Probably yes, as we discuss with the head of Microsoft Technology at the Communication Summit.

Publishers' associations criticize tech companies for "stealing" journalistic content. Is this justified criticism or rather the expression of an industry that has long underestimated the digital transformation?

Of course, all kinds of content was used to feed the artificial intelligence. Whether newspapers, books or other texts, a lot of data was simply siphoned off - copyright or not. It is no coincidence that newspapers in the US are now suing tech companies for copyright infringement. Journalistic content was effectively the training camp and the basis of AI. The tech companies must be held accountable here. However, the new administration in Washington is unlikely to have any interest in this.

Martin Candinas is committed to media diversity and is in close contact with the major publishing houses. What impetus do you expect from him when it comes to securing the independence of the media in Switzerland in the long term?

Media diversity is essential for a functioning direct democracy. Journalism is not a product like any other. Good journalism has positive side effects, but these are often not compensated for. For example, there are studies that show that where there are free media and investigative journalists, there is significantly less corruption. Journalism creates publicity. However, this is less and less guaranteed if there is only one newspaper in certain areas or none at all. Politicians need to rethink media funding.

Swiss Post is economically strong, but it is also a state-owned company. How exciting is the question of what role a company like Swiss Post will play in the digital communications world in the future?

Swiss Post is not in as good a position as one might expect from the figures. Letter sales, where Swiss Post still has a monopoly, are in constant decline. To a certain extent, Swiss Post has been able to compensate for this with the "parcel flood", but only to a certain extent. Swiss Post earns significantly less from parcels because the costs are much higher and the margins are much lower due to competition. At the same time, politicians are still telling Swiss Post that customers must be able to reach a post office within 20 minutes. Are such regulations still appropriate today? In Denmark, for example, public letterboxes are being removed to force people to use digital services. How do you take people into the digital world in a meaningful way? We need to discuss this with Nicole Burth, who is responsible for Swiss Post's digital services.

Journalism is changing - not only because of technology, but also because of young talent. Young journalists and career changers often bring new perspectives, but face challenges: How attractive is the profession today, considering working conditions and pay? And how well are young media professionals prepared for the reality of the profession?

Journalism is still a great profession. There is hardly any other profession where you can meet so many exciting people, acquaintances and strangers, and get new and interesting input every day. No two days are the same. At the same time, however, this profession has also become much less attractive. The career prospects are poor - all you hear about is saving, saving, saving. No wonder more and more seasoned journalists of a certain age are jumping ship and switching to the communications industry. There are hardly any career opportunities. Saving money as a permanent state is not a concept or strategy for attracting young people into this profession. Publishing houses, the SRG and associations urgently need to come up with more ideas here.

"Media and communication 2030/2050: What will we do tomorrow?" After this panel - what answers do you expect to this question?

The answers will vary, as the challenges for journalists are different from those for communications managers. What they all have in common, however, is that we are undergoing a transformation process that will completely change the media and communications departments. The question of how to take employees along on this process will be discussed more and more intensively. What do you do with people who feel left behind? The earlier and more intensively we deal with the new technologies, the better. This is exactly what we will do at the Communication Summit do