Foundations support Swiss Press Council with 330,000 francs
Published: Monday, Sep 30th 2024, 12:20
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A group of charitable foundations is supporting the cash-strapped Swiss Press Council with CHF 330,000 over the next two years. The money will be used to modernize the Council and put it on a sustainable footing for the future, according to a joint statement.
"Thanks to the commitment of the foundations, we can carry out an organizational analysis so that we can position ourselves optimally for the future and our tasks," said Foundation Board President Martina Fehr on Monday at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency.
The aim is to develop a long-term strategy for more stable financing of the Press Council. After all, financing the office with sufficient resources is still a matter of concern for the Council, the statement continued. The no to the Media Act in February 2022 led to an acute shortage of funds at the Press Council.
The Press Council would also like to digitize its processes and make them more efficient in order to be able to respond to the growing number of complaints while maintaining the same resources. The aim is to provide even more guidance on complex issues of media ethics - such as dealing with artificial intelligence - in the future.
The Mercator Switzerland Foundation, the Volkart Foundation, the Gottlieb and Hans Vogt Foundation and the Fondation Leenaards are all involved in supporting the Swiss Press Council. "By bundling our support for the Press Council, we are creating the basis for stronger cooperation in the philanthropic sector," Riccardo Ramacci, Portfolio Manager at the Mercator Switzerland Foundation, is quoted as saying in the press release.
The foundations see their contribution as temporary assistance and not as a long-term funding perspective for the Press Council. The new philanthropic support will not replace the existing funding from the current sponsors.
©Keystone/SDA
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