The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Swiss affiliates impressum and syndicom in denouncing the dramatic consequences of the restructuring plan announced on Monday by the Swiss public broadcaster SBC, which foresees the loss of 900 jobs. The EFJ calls on the public authorities and all Swiss civil society organisations to counter the “Halbierungsinitiative” initiative, launched by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP-UDC), which risks worsening the state of media pluralism in Switzerland by imposing a new wave of drastic restructuring on SBC.
On 24 November, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) announced it will cut 900 of its 5,700 full-time positions by 2029, following the gradual reduction in the Swiss licence fee. The layoffs come as the government imposed budget cuts on SBC following a decision to reduce the national media levy from 335 to 300 Swiss francs and to exempt more companies from paying it.
The announced savings plan covers a total of CHF 270 million between 2025 and 2029 – 17% of SBC 2024 budget – of which a first tranche of CHF 125 million is to be implemented before 2027. The most significant measure concerns jobs. Up to 900 full-time equivalent jobs could be lost, SBC confirmed on 24 November. Around 300 of these are part of an ongoing savings programme. The remaining 600 job cuts will be phased in gradually, taking into account natural attrition such as retirements, but redundancies remain “unavoidable”, SBC said.
“We regret these cuts. But political decisions and the context in which our company is evolving leave us no other choice,” said SBC Director General Susanne Wille. The Swiss journalists’ organisations, syndicom, impressum and SSM, are denouncing this plan, in a European context where the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) has just imposed on EU member states the sustainability of funding for public broadcasters.
They also strongly denounce the intention to further reduce funding for Switzerland’s public media by putting to the vote on 8 March 2026 the “Halbierungsinitiative” (“200 francs, ça suffit!”, in french), launched by SVP-UDC, the largest party in the Swiss Federal Assembly, which aims to reduce the amount of the licence fee to 200 Swiss francs. “If this is accepted, budgets will be cut not only at the SRG, but also at numerous local TV and radio stations. (…) The initiative would undermine reporting and thus media pluralism,” reacted syndicom.
The Swiss Alliance for Media Diversity has condemned SBC’s “dramatic” decision to cut jobs. It sees this as “the consequence of political pressure”, which in its view is leading to “a weakening of public broadcasting”.
Source: EFJ
