The SSR, which produces content in all four of Switzerland’s national languages — notably via Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS) — is facing profound upheaval in the media market and a gradual decline in licence fee revenues. The organisation has indicated that it must save 270 million Swiss francs by 2029, which will involve the elimination of 900 full-time equivalent positions. The funding of Swissinfo.ch, TV5Monde and 3Sat currently relies on public funds, provided half by the SSR (and therefore by the licence fee) and half by a dedicated federal budget. It is this contribution by the state that the government intends to get rid of. The SSR would also be prohibited from compensating for these losses by drawing more heavily on the licence fee.The consequences of these changes would be instant: Swissinfo.ch would lose half its budget, while TV5Monde and 3Sat would face equivalent reductions, weakening Switzerland’s presence in the international media landscape.
Swissinfo — whose broadcasting languages include Russian and Arabic — attracts around 45 million website visits per year. Not only is it aimed at the over 800,000 Swiss citizens living abroad, but its mission is also to provide reliable journalism worldwide, including in authoritarian environments. It is a key vehicle for promoting direct democracy, the rule of law, federalism and freedom of expression. Swissinfo is regularly recognised by the Yearbook Quality of the Media by the Fög Institute (University of Zurich) and remains the only Swiss media outlet to be certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) — an RSF initiative — which is an international standard for showcasing and promoting trustworthy journalism. TV5Monde, a channel founded in 1984 to which Switzerland contributes around 6% of the budget, reaches more than 350 million households in over 200 countries. Swiss programming accounts for around 10% of broadcast time and 20% of the digital offering. A cut of 5.7 million Swiss francs per year would jeopardise the international visibility of Swiss productions. The same applies to 3Sat, a German-language cultural platform co-produced by several public broadcasters, which would be weakened by an equivalent reduction.
The RSF petition to support public service media
In response to these threats, RSF Switzerland has joined a coalition of organisations in launching a petition calling on Parliament to abandon these cuts and guarantee the long-term future of Swissinfo, TV5Monde and 3Sat. The issue goes far beyond budgetary considerations: it concerns the preservation of a diverse, independent media ecosystem that is accessible internationally.