The proposals were submitted to the National and Council of States Commissions for Transport and Telecommunications (KVF), as announced by Impressum, Syndicom and SSM on Thursday. The proposals to the commissions consist of a package: during the crisis, newspapers and magazines are to be delivered free of charge by Swiss Post. Furthermore, the subscriptions of the information media at the news agency Keystone-SDA should be financed by the federal government.

A fund of CHF 100 million is also intended to help media outlets out of financial difficulties and to finance journalistic research. And the reserve for planning deviations from the radio and television levy, which is budgeted at CHF 34.2 million for 2020, is intended primarily to support licensed private radio and television stations and audiovisual production in their particularly difficult situation.

Virtually all editorial media are reporting unprecedented demand for editorial information, the report continues. This is reflected in record click-through numbers, as well as online subscriptions and newsstand sales of newspapers, and even direct donations to editorial offices. However, the Corona crisis has led to extreme declines in sales on the advertising market, and many media are therefore on the verge of bankruptcy.

The undersigned organizations consider it an important public interest that journalistic information be maintained for the population, all the more so in the extraordinary situation.

The following professional organizations submitted the proposals: Syndicom, Impressum, Investigativ.ch, Media Forti, Medien mit Zukunft, Medien für alle, Association romande des producteurs audiovisuels and Schweizerisches Syndikat Medienschaffender SSM. (SDA)

The polls on the initiative predicted a close result, so it was crucial to be able to persuade the undecideds to vote no, the crowdfunding initiators wrote in a statement.

"The No Billag initiative is based on a lot of misinformation. Most people have not yet understood what is really at stake," warns Frédéric Gonseth, Swiss filmmaker and co-president at Media for All. "The initiators are talking about reception fees, when in fact they are talking about a referendum to abolish the public media service in Switzerland." "If the initiative is accepted, the entire audiovisual sector will be privatized," adds Nina Scheu, co-president of German-speaking Switzerland at "Media for All."

"What we reject," says Alberto Chollet, journalist and co-president Ticino of "Media for All," "is the economic and social model propagated by the initiative. We are committed to a strong public media service and fight against the total privatization of the media sector."

In early 2017, the No Billag initiators themselves had planned a crowdfunding campaign on Wemakeit. However, Wemakeit judged the campaign to be "extreme" and "politically dangerous" and decided to stop the crowdfunding (Werbewoche.ch reported). The Wemakeit operators confirm their commitment against the No Billag initiative, by the platform to collect support funds. One welcomes "this courageous commitment of a private company in favor of the common good," writes the association.

The "Media for All" association was founded in 2015 in the wake of the RTVG vote and is committed to the quality and diversity of Swiss print, electronic and online media. The association is an amalgamation of media unions and associations (SSM, Syndicom, Impressum), associations from the film industry and from culture. "Media for All" is involved throughout Switzerland in the coordination of all active groups against No Billag, especially in the cooperation of the regional committees (Association contre la disparition des radio-tv, Nein zum Sendeschluss, NoBillag NoSvizzera). (pd/hae)