Magistral guest

 
A big turnout today at the Publishers' Congress. In addition to highly interesting panel discussions, Viviane Reding, the EU Commissioner for Media Affairs, addressed the audience, and the congress welcomed Samuel Schmid, the Swiss Minister of Defense and Sports. Federal Councillor speeches are always something of a problem. The magistrates don't like to go too far out on a limb, and if one of them does formulate something a little more pithy, his press officer is guaranteed to cut the relevant passages out of the script.  
Not so with Samuel Schmid. His speech was peppered with amusements and he proved to be an exceptionally quick-witted and eloquent speaker. Publisher President Lebrument, on the other hand, had familiar words to say. His speech entitled "The Swiss economy - a pillar for the diversity of the Swiss press" had already caused unease in left-wing circles, namely the journalists from Klartext. The fact that the President would attack another cornerstone of the Swiss media at this congress, namely editorial independence, was heard from this side. As is well known, Lebrument has already made himself unpopular with the journalists' associations when he overturned the collective employment contract and replaced it with the so-called minimum standards. The fact is, however, that the advertising revenues of the print media have been falling for years and this loss of income has to be compensated for or distributed in some way. And the editorial offices are also affected. It should be obvious that Lebrument cannot simply ignore such developments and is hoping for more advertising orders through a business-friendly editorial environment. After all, it is the job of an industry association president to help his members save costs and minimize revenue losses. The audience seemed to share this opinion and rewarded Lebrument's speech with a round of applause.  
Another highlight is expected on Friday evening with the Publisher's Night Gala, before the congress draws to a close with a nightcap at the bar around midnight. And we can already look forward to the next congress in Lucerne, the city of lights, with its wonderful culture and congress center.