Radio studio decision causes discord in SRG Bern Fribourg Valais
The planned relocation of parts of the Bern radio studio to Zurich has sparked a dispute within SRG Bern Fribourg Valais. At Friday’s general meeting in Burgdorf, Bern, the Fribourg section suffered a bitter defeat.
Its president Beat Hayoz failed to be re-elected to the regional council of SRG Deutschschweiz. Hayoz had publicly opposed his fellow board members of SRG Bern Fribourg Valais last fall by expressing understanding for the radio studio decision of SRG's top management.
The other board members considered this behavior disloyal, which is why they no longer nominated Hayoz for the regional council. This in turn drove around 70 members of SRG Fribourg to the barricades, who criticized the action in a resolution and backed Hayoz.
At the general assembly on Friday, Fribourg members of the cooperative demanded in vain that the board of SRG Berne Fribourg Valais be denied discharge. They also failed in their attempt to get Hayoz elected to the regional council.
The members of the cooperative preferred one from Bern and one from Valais, plus the Valais president Léander Jaggi ex officio - the Fribourg section is no longer represented in the regional council. It feels its existence threatened by this, as one of its members said.
It was obvious in Burgdorf that the sparks must have been flying on the board. What exactly happened is difficult to judge from the outside.
At any rate, an exchange of blows between Hayoz and President Jaggi took place at the General Meeting. Hayoz accused Jaggi of spreading a number of untruths during a debate. He said that what had happened was "heaven-defying". Jaggi rejected the accusations.
The trigger of the dispute - the planned relocation of the Bern radio studio - was only a side issue. President Jaggi reiterated that for the majority of the board, the radio studio decision by SRG's top management was still a wrong decision.
Immediately after its announcement last fall, the board had decided to examine scenarios for a realignment of SRG Bern Fribourg Valais. A working group then examined several options, ranging from continued membership in SRG Deutschschweiz to semi-autonomous cooperation in the SRG bodies to suspension or withdrawal.
The findings of the working group were supposed to be presented to the cooperative members on Friday evening. But this item on the program was postponed until later due to the advanced hour
The members of the cooperative will only decide at a later date how to proceed. The SRG Cooperative Berne Fribourg Valais is the third-largest SRG sponsor. (SDA)
