Parliament wants to maintain and expand indirect press funding
The Federal Assembly intends to maintain and strengthen the federal government’s indirect press subsidies. Following the National Council, the Council of States also approved on Thursday a proposal by a National Council commission to continue and increase these subsidies.
In the overall vote, the bill drawn up by the National Council's Committee for Transport and Telecommunications (KVF-N) to amend the Postal Services Act passed by 37 votes to 6 with one abstention. The no votes came from the SVP and the center.
The majority of the Council thus shared the KVF-N's view that small and medium-sized publishers are currently in a phase of upheaval. They need to be given time and money until they have managed the digital transformation. The regional and local press plays an important democratic role.
Esther Friedli (SVP/SG) failed in her motion to reject the bill. There was no guarantee that the subsidized publishers would use the money for the digital transformation of their companies - as the authors of the bill intended. In the event of non-adoption, indirect press funding would not be discontinued, but everything would remain the same.
The Federal Council also opposed the motion. Media Minister Albert Rösti pointed out that the Gaillard group of experts recommended that the federal government abolish indirect media funding altogether in order to improve its finances. The Federal Council did not want this, but it did not want an expansion of funding.
Differences in the amounts remain
Contributions from the federal government for the reduced delivery of regional and local newspapers are the federal government's instrument for indirectly promoting the print media. To date, the federal government has paid CHF 30 million per year for this daily delivery. When discussing the bill in September, the National Council voted in favor of 45 million. For the Council of States, 40 million seems enough.
Unlike the National Council, however, it wants to retain contributions for the membership and foundation press. The plan is to pay 20 million per year for this - the same amount as today. This press is also worthy of support. In September, the National Council removed these contributions from the KVF-N bill, for which the preparatory committee of the Council of States wanted to provide ten million.
Like the large chamber, the small chamber also wants to subsidize the early delivery of subscribed daily and weekly newspapers on weekdays. The small chamber wants to make 25 million available for this. The National Council was in favor of 30 million. Because of all these differences, the bill will return to the National Council.
The bill is based on a parliamentary initiative by Christine Bulliard-Marbach. The centrist National Councillor from Fribourg argued that when the Swiss people rejected the so-called media package at the ballot box in 2022, it was undisputed that small regional newspaper publishers deserved more support.
No innovation for electronic media
In September, the National Council passed a KVF-N motion on the introduction of channel and business model-independent funding for electronic media. It is to be financed from the federal budget and will eventually replace indirect press subsidies.
The Council of States rejected the motion, which is therefore now closed. The Council of States - like the National Council - adopted another KVF-N motion to remove the distortion of competition in the promotion of the membership and foundation press. It will now be passed on to the Federal Council for implementation. (SDA/swi)
