Protesters in Bern call for Swissinfo cuts to be reversed

Around 50 protesters gathered in Bern on Tuesday, calling on the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation to reverse cuts to Swissinfo and its international services. Placards outside the building carried messages including “Cut Swissinfo = Mute Switzerland”. The protest brought together people concerned about Swissinfo’s role for Swiss citizens abroad and Switzerland’s connections with the rest of the world.

The rally followed last week’s announcement that the Japanese and Portuguese services will close under a new mandate. The government’s decision also brings a sharp reduction in Swissinfo’s annual budget, from CHF 18.8 million to CHF 10.5 million. The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation later said the changes would reduce resources equivalent to 22 full-time posts across its international services.

Speakers at the protest said parliament had chosen not to cut the corporation’s international services when it passed the budget relief package. They urged lawmakers to intervene and preserve the service in full.

Swissinfo’s annual budget is set to fall by CHF 8.3 million, from CHF 18.8 million to CHF 10.5 million. The reductions follow the government’s new mandate for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation’s international services, which removes Japanese and Portuguese from Swissinfo’s language offering. The Italian-language platform tvsvizzera.it will also stop operating.

The corporation said the changes amount to 22 full-time-equivalent posts across its international services. Of those, 12.7 full-time equivalents relate to Swissinfo. The remaining reduction is spread across other part-time roles at 3sat, TV5 Monde and tvsvizzera.it.

The figures put the service’s budget reduction alongside a broader restructuring across the corporation’s international operations. At the rally, speakers condemned the cuts and highlighted the effect of losing language services that connect audiences with Swiss news and institutions. One person affected called for an end to the “unfair cuts”. SSM, the media union that organised the protest, also criticised the fact that redundancies had already been announced.

Swissinfo’s Japanese-language team says its work goes beyond translating news. A representative told protesters that its journalists explain Swiss institutions and political concepts to readers who may be less familiar with the country. “For example, we explain what a referendum and an initiative are, how direct democracy works and what Swiss neutrality entails.”

That explanatory role was central to the argument for keeping the Japanese service. A colleague from the team said the cuts represented an unacceptable loss for friendly relations between Japan and Switzerland. Protesters also stressed the value of Swissinfo to Swiss citizens living abroad, for whom the service provides news and context about their home country.

The Japanese and Portuguese services are both due to close under the new mandate. Their removal changes the range of languages through which Swissinfo reaches audiences abroad. At the rally, speakers framed the service as a way to communicate Swiss politics, society and values beyond the country’s borders, rather than simply a channel for translated articles.

Protesters are now looking to parliament to save the full international service. Parliamentarian Andrea Zryd recalled that lawmakers had decided to retain the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation’s international service during passage of the budget relief package. She described credible media as a matter of security and said Switzerland’s voice mattered to the rest of the world.

The protest was organised by SSM, the media union. Its secretary, Eva Ermatinger, said the union hoped parliament would preserve the service in full and condemned the announcement of redundancies. That appeal follows the government’s new mandate, which sets the reduced budget and removes the Japanese and Portuguese services.

For Swissinfo, the practical consequences reach beyond its Bern newsroom: the reductions cover posts across several international services, while the cuts to its own staff account for 12.7 full-time equivalents. The rally’s speakers connected that decision to Switzerland’s ability to explain its politics and perspective to people abroad. Their demand was direct: reverse the announced cuts and retain the full international service.