Petition submitted for transparency at media companies
Media companies should disclose who their owners are. This is the demand of a petition launched by the group «Kunst+Politik» and the protest movement «Save Basel!» Representatives of these groups submitted the petition, which had gathered 2,435 signatures, in Bern on Monday.
It is unacceptable that media companies are not transparent about their ownership structure, said author Guy Krneta at the petition handover on the Bundesterrasse. After all, the media make a significant contribution to the democratic formation of opinion. Writers Klaus Merz and Pedro Lenz, filmmaker Mathias Knauer and cultural worker Adi Blum were also present.
For two years, the ownership structure of the Basler Zeitung was concealed, as criticized by "Kunst+Politik" and "Rettet Basel!". There have also been well-founded doubts about the ownership of publisher Roger Köppel at Weltwoche for several years. According to the petition text, media outlets have recently been bought up by party-affiliated financiers and used as political propaganda tools. However, this is done while concealing the actual ownership.
The petition now demands that the Federal Council and Parliament create the legal requirements for media companies to disclose their ownership and ownership structure. If investors are in the background, media companies must declare this, said Krneta.
The "Save Basel!" movement emerged when the controversial Baz consultancy mandate of Christoph Blocher's Robinvest became public. In November 2010, financier Tito Tettamanti capitulated after waves of protest that would not die down and sold Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM) to Moritz Suter. Behind this were anonymous financiers. Suter threw in the towel at the end of 2011 when he fell out with his backers and returned the shares to Blocher's daughter Rahel. She then sold again to Tettamanti. Blocher is still involved: with a deficit guarantee. (SDA)
