Independent experts want to reorganize the public media service
Published: Tuesday, Feb 6th 2024, 12:30
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The Federal Media Commission (Emek) considers the SVP's halving initiative and the Federal Council's counter-concept to reduce radio and TV fees to be "not sensible". It advocates a fundamental rethink of the basic media service.
Both the SVP popular initiative "200 francs is enough! (SRG initiative)" and the Federal Council's proposal to reduce fees from CHF 335 to CHF 300 per household would weaken the public media service, the Emek wrote in a press release on Tuesday. Information in peripheral areas in particular would be endangered as a result.
The reduced fee would also involve "sometimes drastic cuts to the program". This would happen "just at a time of major challenges for the media in Switzerland".
"Insoluble conflict of objectives"
Instead, the Emek considers it necessary to fundamentally restructure the basic media service. "Today, the public media service finds itself in an irresolvable conflict of objectives," Emek President Anna Jobin told the media in Bern.
On the one hand, public broadcasters have to take private providers into consideration, but still report as fully as possible. In addition, efficiency guidelines cannot always be reconciled with the requirement to provide all regions with sufficient information.
In the view of the Emek, the public media service must guarantee journalistic stability and continuity more than ever, particularly in individual language and peripheral regions. At the same time, it must be clearly distinguishable from commercial offerings in terms of the quality, professionalism, style and relevance of the services provided.
Narrow focus
According to the Emek, a public service must also take on new tasks in a digital society, such as providing a space for public debate. Discussion forums are needed that are not in the hands of American or Chinese companies, said Jobin.
The Emek therefore recommends anchoring the public media service in future as a modern, technology- and genre-neutral infrastructure that is accessible to the entire population in all parts of the country on an equal footing and without barriers. In terms of content, the focus should be on politics and business as well as culture, education and science.
According to the Emek, a distinction should be made between sports that are not commercially interesting for private broadcasters and those that are "suitable for the masses" - such as the Lauberhorn downhill race or the European Football Championships. In the case of the latter, a decision would have to be made as to whether or not they should be included in the public media service.
Distribute advertising revenue
According to the Emek, a change in the financing system is also needed. The public media should therefore do without advertising revenue in future and instead receive "stable, reliable and sufficient" public funding.
According to the Emek, it would be conceivable, for example, to index the existing media levy, replace it with an earmarked media tax that would be levied based on income, similar to church tax, or finance it via VAT percentages.
According to this model, advertising would still be permitted in linear TV offerings in order to prevent the outflow of advertising money abroad. However, the revenue would be distributed in favor of general media funding. Today, around a third of the universal service is financed by advertising.
Food for thought for politicians
The Emek describes its report as "food for thought for public discourse". The restructuring of the basic media service requires new legal foundations. Implementation with corresponding transitional periods is therefore only realistic in the medium to long term.
The Emek is an independent, extra-parliamentary commission set up by the Federal Council with experts from academia and the media industry. It has been advising the authorities on media issues for over ten years.
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