Alliance for Media Diversity opposes SVP halving initiative
23 personalities from politics, culture, business and civil society have joined forces to form an "Alliance for Media Diversity". They want to campaign against the initiative announced by SVP representatives to halve the radio and TV fee even before it has been launched.
Zurich SVP National Councilor Gregor Rutz had told Swiss radio SRF on Sunday that an initiative to halve the Serafe fee was in the works. He said there was a need for SRG, but it was doing too much in areas where private companies were active. Serafe is the fee agency for radio and TV levies.
Four years after "No Billag", the next frontal attack on media diversity is threatened by SVP exponents with the bisection initiative, says the communication of the newly founded "Alliance Pro Media Diversity on Monday. It does not matter how the initiative is formulated, he said, because, as in a chess game, whoever makes a surprising opening has an advantage.
In Switzerland, a small country with four languages, convincing news and background formats could not be financed on the market, Joachim Eder, former FDP member of the Council of States from Zug and member of the co-presidency, is quoted in the press release. The same applies to cultural reporting and in-house productions.
According to the alliance, the offerings of the SRG channels and the private radio and TV providers are particularly important for the mountain and peripheral regions. Many local newspapers have disappeared there, and this process will accelerate further after the people's "no" to the media package at the weekend.
The early position-taking is also meant to be a signal that more people will join the alliance, Mark Balsiger, executive director of the Courage Civil movement, said in the statement. The alliance will initially be active in German-speaking Switzerland. It is hoped that similar projects will be launched in other language regions, the media release said. (SDA)
