Times change and yet remain the same. I recently read Robert Harris' brilliant biography of the Roman politician Cicero. In 67 BC, the Roman Republic suspended its constitution to fight the Cilician pirates. In 2015 AD, the Swiss media minister Doris Leuthard pushed for a joint venture between Swisscom, SRG and Ringier to oppose Facebook mexico rcs data and Google. The logic is the same: extraordinary times require extraordinary measures. Sometimes it's the pirates, other times it's the digital revolution that creates a "pretext" for new constructs. It worked when the Cilician pirates were expelled.
Let's not kid ourselves: despite the loud sulking of the publishers, the controversial advertising joint venture will soon start. Bakom, which reports to Federal Councillor Leuthard, may investigate this for a long time. Wishful thinking has no chance against the power of facts. The only beneficiaries so far: the lobbyists on both sides.
It will be interesting to see how the new marketing company reacts to YouTube and Google: with a new YouTube or even a global search engine? This is the only way to offer the promised resistance to the Americans.
Publisher President Hanspeter Lebrument demands visions from his industry. The publishers once had these. Originally they were involved in the AG für Werbefernsehen, the predecessor of today's Publisuisse. Unfortunately, they later sold their share to the SRG. Otherwise the whole thing wouldn't exist.