Newspapers reflect our country and its federalism: according to a 2019 survey, 89 percent of voting citizens consider editorial articles in newspapers to be the most important source of opinion-forming. Newspapers are also "public spaces" in which major and minor issues are presented and discussed together at the same time. In a direct democracy, this role played by newspapers is indispensable - and it creates identity in small villages as well as in cosmopolitan agglomerations.
In terms of media policy, period for the vitality of direct democracy: the parliamentarians in Bern can now ensure that citizens will continue to be informed by private media providers in the future. Smaller morocco rcs data newspaper titles in remote regions in particular are in acute danger, as the delivery of just a few copies in sparsely populated areas has become too expensive. Public service is not a slogan for the newspapers of private media companies, but a daily reality. This reality must be secured for the future.
Last week I counted the advertisements in “Spiegel” again: It is shocking. One, at most three advertisements per issue are paid for. The situation is similar in Switzerland: the socialist ideal of the ad-free newspaper has now prevailed. Not for ideological reasons, but for economic reasons. Tamedia earned 18 million francs less from print advertisements in the first half of the year than in the previous year . A catastrophe. Back in 2018, people thought it couldn't get any worse. We have learned that the real problems in our industry are not fake news, but a lack of advertising. A fact that readers and journalists like to ignore. Instead, almost half of all advertising money in Switzerland, around 2 billion francs, will go to Google and Facebook.