Federal Council wants to support online media and SDA
The Federal Council is considering providing direct funding to online media and the Swiss News Agency (SDA) in the future. According to the federal government, direct support for print media is currently not legally possible.
This is stated in the Federal Council's response to two urgent motions from the left-green camp following the closure of the French-language weekly magazine L'Hébdo and the numerous layoffs at the newspaper Le Temps.
The state government does not deny the difficulties the media industry is facing in the current structural change. However, it is primarily up to the media themselves to respond to these changes with suitable business models.
The media industry as a whole is not so threatened that short-term emergency measures are appropriate. Moreover, any support measures would have to be competitively neutral for the industry and should not be aimed at rescuing individual titles.
Start-up for new law
In spring 2018, the Federal Council plans to submit the draft of a new law on electronic media for consultation. This is intended to replace the current Radio and Television Act (RTVA) and also deal with the direct promotion of online media.
In the short term, according to the Federal Council's response, the Radio and Television Ordinance could be amended so that the sda could be financially supported with funds from the media levy from 2019. The sda provides information in several languages, which the Federal Council believes is particularly important for French-speaking Switzerland. It is planned to hold a public hearing this fall, he said.
Other models are aimed at slowing down or compensating for the loss of advertising revenues in the print media. According to the Federal Council, it would take several years to create the legal basis for setting up a foundation to promote the media. (SDA)
