Avenir Suisse announced on Monday that the federal government, cantons and municipalities support Swiss media with 1.5 billion francs a year, 20 percent more than 20 years ago. This is how politicians try to “protect the old media world”. However, this does not make much sense in the digital world and leads to distortions in competition. Special media will be compressed and media diversity will suffer.
The main beneficiary of this policy is SRG. It receives 1.2 billion francs a year, and thus 80 percent of Swiss media funds. As SRG “evolves into a significant media outlet in the online space as well”, its basic service mandate needs to be adjusted.
The SRG should limit itself to media content that private parties cannot present and that is relevant to the functioning of a democratic society. In addition, a new, differentiated fee model is needed in order to reduce mandatory fees and reduce competition distortions.
Avenir Suisse recognizes that market failures can occur in certain areas, such as investigative journalism or extensive research and complex issues. As with basic research, this issue can be resolved by funding projects or individuals.
In addition, SRG should become the so-called “public content provider” in the long run. In doing so, it will produce multimedia content that the free market does not produce and is essential to the functioning of a democratic society.
However, these will not be subsequently broadcast through SRG channels, but will instead be allocated to private media outlets in a “competitive process”. Private companies can acquire the rights to individual programs and then broadcast them.
(SDA)