Reporting when the current media system is at stake: explaining news coverage about the initiative on the abolishment of public service broadcasting in Switzerland

Abstract

On March 4, 2018, citizens in Switzerland rejected the “No Billag” initiative. The initiative demanded the abolition of the mandatory license fee for broadcasting. In Switzerland’s small and fragmented news market, these organizations most likely would be unable to operate without this funding on a purely commercial basis and would ultimately cease to exist. Thus, the media system as a whole was at stake. As expected, economic (self-)interests of media companies were reflected in news coverage, showing the impact of the profit rationale. The public service broadcaster was severely challenged, as proponents of the initiative and other media in several news articles claimed that its news reporting should be absolutely balanced between both sides, despite the fact that the opposing camp was much larger. Journalists’ engagement with the initiative was done through a national lens, with relatively explicit references to developments or the role of public service broadcasting in other countries or to global challenges coming from the tech companies.