National Council wants to strengthen indirect press funding

To this end, the Grand Chamber passed a bill from its Committee for Transport and Telecommunications (KVF-N) on a revision of the Postal Services Act by 126 votes to 61 with two abstentions. The bill was initiated by Christine Bulliard-Marbach (center/FR) with a parliamentary initiative. There should also be a federally subsidized reduction for the early delivery of daily newspapers during the week until 06:30.

Following the job cuts at Tamedia announced at the end of August, the Swiss Media Publishers Association recently also called for an expansion of indirect press subsidies. This is the only way to maintain the journalistic offerings of private media in Switzerland. The development also affects smaller local and regional newspapers. Without additional funding, newspapers will go out of business.

Criticism of the federal government's savings plans?

With these decisions, the National Council also opposed the federal government's savings proposals: A reduction in the federal contribution for indirect press funding was part of the recently published expert report on potential savings for the federal government.

The Federal Council requested in advance that the bill be rejected. One of the reasons for its rejection was the tight financial situation. A proposal by the national government to allocate a total of CHF 37.5 million per year for indirect press funding instead of CHF 45 million failed.

"We support indirect press funding, but do not want an increase," said Media Minister Albert Rösti in the Council. Only the SVP campaigned for a lower increase in the Council. The national government had also rejected a reduction for early delivery in advance.

Increase subject to reservation

The bill was discussed on Thursday, sometimes emotionally. The SVP was the only parliamentary group in the Council to request that the bill be rejected: "Media are first and foremost private companies," said Gregor Rutz (SVP/ZH). These should be oriented towards the market. Media concentration, which was deplored in many places, was not a bad thing per se. The concentration processes would also create new things, said Rutz. Subsidies achieve the opposite of innovation. The media sector is not an area in which the state can act.

Jaqueline Badran (SP/ZH) replied that the product of information, the press, could not be refinanced through advertising or subscriptions. There is no "damn" market for it. "If we no longer have journalism in this region, in this place or in this valley, there will be no more information," said Jon Pult (SP/GR). The theory of structural change therefore does not apply here. Rather, there is a fundamental media financing crisis.

There was a similar response from the Center Group. Marie-France Roth Pasquier (FR) said that the diversity of the press in Switzerland was under threat regionally and locally. They wanted to provide a financial buffer so that the smaller media titles could push ahead with digitization.

In the end, the increase in indirect press funding was approved - also with the help of votes from the Greens, GLP, Center and FDP. According to spokesperson Andri Silberschmidt (ZH), the latter sees great value in the work of regional journalism. However, the regional press does not have the resources to manage the digital transformation on its own. However, this is "probably not the salvation of local journalism". This is why the increase in contributions must be partially compensated for, according to Silberschmidt.

Contributions for foundation press canceled

This was also the view of the GLP parliamentary group: Outdated structures should not be cemented, future media funding should look different, said Katja Christ (BS) in the Council. The support should therefore have an expiration date. The Council then limited it to seven years.

Meanwhile, the Federal Council also requested the removal of contributions for the membership and foundation press. This had also been the subject of lively discussion in the Council on Tuesday. Previously, the contributions amounted to CHF 20 million per year. A left-wing minority wanted to increase them to CHF 30 million, but failed in the Council. In the end, the contribution for the membership and foundation press was narrowly abolished by 94 votes to 91 with four abstentions - also thanks to votes from the GLP and at the request of an FDP minority.

Promoting electronic media

In contrast, the National Council wants the Federal Council to examine the introduction of a channel and business model-independent promotion of electronic media. The KVF-N motion was adopted by 116 votes to 72 with one abstention and against the will of a minority of SVP and centrist members of the National Council. The Council of States must also deal with the motion next.

The funding is to be financed from the federal budget and compensated for by a reduction or abolition of indirect press subsidies in accordance with the Postal Services Act. In view of the premature timing in its view due to the upcoming referendum on the "200 franc initiative" and the current financial situation, the national government also unsuccessfully argued against approval in this case.

Meanwhile, another KVF-N motion to abolish the distortion of competition in the promotion of the membership and foundation press was adopted without a vote - and sent to the Council of States. (SDA/swi)