Politicians in Switzerland have recently concluded it would be a good idea to cut funding for swissinfo.ch, the successor to Swiss Radio International and the international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC).
swissinfo.ch, an online multimedia news service, is also my former employer.
The decision is wrongheaded. swissinfo.ch is currently supported 50 percent by the SBC and 50 percent by the government. No international service? For a country that punches far above its own weight - home to the United Nations, some of the world's biggest banks and pharmaceutical companies - it seems like a very shortsighted proposition.
Over the past decade, funding for the SBC's international service has already been dramatically cut- from around CHF50 million to CHF26 million currently. The Swiss abroad, English-speakers in Switzerland and anybody with an interest in comprehensive coverage of Switzerland deserve better.
I'd encourage you to add your name to the petition to save swissinfo.ch.
Below is a letter I wrote in support:
It was with great dismay that I read of plans by Switzerland’s cabinet and parliament to cut funding for swissinfo, the international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, from 2012 on.
swissinfo and its predecessor organization, Swiss Radio International, have for decades played a formative and decisive role in projecting Switzerland’s image abroad. In a world in which the availability of information is proliferating rapidly, but in which the reliability and comprehensiveness of privately-owned news services becomes increasingly in jeopardy, the elimination of a robust international service for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation is nothing short of wrongheaded.
I speak from a unique perspective. As a Swiss abroad, I have a strong interest in keeping up-to-date with news from my homeland. Major international news services report on Switzerland occasionally- perhaps on a hot button issue like bank scandals or the recent referendum to ban minarets. If that’s all that happened in our great country, there wouldn’t be a problem.
Fortunately, it’s not. I had the privilege of having been employed as a journalist in swissinfo’s English section between 2008 and 2010. Only swissinfo reported in nine languages, explaining clearly and coherently news and political events, sport and our country’s diverse culture. Only swissinfo reported on what the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation is doing to restore infrastructure in war-torn West Africa and to rebuild livelihoods in Bangladesh. Only swissinfo carried an exclusive interview with UBS whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld and only notwithstanding Switzerland’s domestic media, which does not carry reports in English, Chinese, Arabic or Japanese, only swissinfo comprehensively explained the political and legal nuances surrounding banking secrecy.
The media landscape around the world is changing rapidly and at the same time, governments face enormous fiscal challenges. I am not unaware of this, nor are my former colleagues in Bern, Geneva, Lugano and Zurich. Governments are naturally seeking to save money. But this is the wrong place. Both public and private broadcasters are increasingly expanding their online operations. It’s the medium of the future.
What sense does it make to cut this service? Who benefits? Who loses?
Switzerland is a small country but it punches far above its own weight. It is an international centre of finance and business, attracting thousands of high-calibre foreign employees. We are home to some of the world’s biggest banks, pharmaceutical companies, particle accelerators and tennis players. Three of our cities are ranked among the top ten in the world to live. The beauty of our landscape is as renowned as our neutrality and our humanitarian traditions.
Rather than cutting swissinfo, Switzerland’s politicians ought to be making plans to expand the service- in particular the departments telling Switzerland’s stories in the world’s major languages. Imagine no BBC World, no Voice of America or no Deutsche Welle. What league should Switzerland be in?
I implore you to stand strongly with swissinfo, the Swiss abroad and anybody with an interest in our country, and to oppose the shortsighted decision to cut funding to the international service of Switzerland’s public broadcaster.
