Liechtenstein votes on the future of national radio
Published: Sunday, Oct 13th 2024, 09:40
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Liechtenstein voters will decide on the future of state-funded Radio Liechtenstein at the ballot box on October 27. A popular initiative is calling for its privatization. The government does not believe in the profitability of a private broadcaster in the microstate and rejects the initiative.
The popular initiative was launched by the small party Demokraten pro Liechtenstein (DpL). It calls for the repeal of the Liechtenstein Broadcasting Act with the aim of turning the national radio station into a private broadcaster. Radio Liechtenstein is mainly financed by public funds and is available to listeners free of charge.
The Democrats are bothered by the fact that Radio Liechtenstein receives almost four million Swiss francs a year, 70 percent of all media funding, and has repeatedly had to be rescued with emergency loans. They also complain in the voting message that a state broadcaster cannot be neutral, but must "always be loyal to the government".
The DpL is convinced that the population would rather have a strong, neutral daily newspaper that can act as a "fourth estate" than a radio station.
Swiss radio landscape as a role model
The initiators believe that a radio station cannot survive with less money is scaremongering. A look at the Swiss private radio landscape shows this.
For example, the new private radio station Radio Alpin from media entrepreneur Roger Schawinski, which will be broadcasting in three languages throughout Graubünden from 2025, receives significantly less subsidies than Radio Liechtenstein at CHF 2.8 million per year. "With the appropriate specifications, a performance mandate or the award of a concession, a private radio station will achieve much more at a lower price," the small party is convinced.
As the Landtag, the parliament, has rejected the Democrats' initiative to repeal the law on "Liechtenstein Broadcasting", it will now be put to the vote.
Government does not believe in profitable private radio
The Liechtenstein government, on the other hand, doubts that a private radio station can take the place of the state broadcaster, as it explained in the run-up to the vote. Past experience would show that a private radio station would not be profitable to operate in Liechtenstein with its 40,000 inhabitants.
"If the initiative is accepted, there is a high risk that there will be no Liechtenstein radio station at all in the future," the government warned in the voting message. This would mean that another relevant medium would disappear from the market, after one of the two daily newspapers in the tiny state, the "Volksblatt", closed its doors in 2023 for financial reasons.
Public service broadcasting is an important and trustworthy source of information for the formation of public opinion. "As a public service, it also performs an identity-forming function," said the executive. No longer having a Liechtenstein radio station would mean "less media diversity and less democracy".
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