2024-01-21 10:39:00
The former general director of SSR Armin Walpen is demanding a ‘political heavyweight’ to succeed Gilles Marchand at the head of the public service company. In an interview with Sonntagsblick, he proposes a leadership from the bourgeois camp.
‘There is a lack of a political network on the institutional side of the SSR,’ says Armin Walpen, 75, director general of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SSR) from 1996 to 2010. The initiative aimed at reducing the radio and television license fee from 335 to 200 francs per year threatens the existence of the SSR, underlines Mr. Walpen.
The problem with the SSR is not a lack of know-how, he continues. ‘But today, we absolutely need someone who manages to take dialogue and criticism seriously as well as to stand up and oppose attacks.’
According to Mr Walpen, a ‘heavyweight’ from the ranks of the SVP would be ideal. It could also be a PLR. And to quote the party leader Thierry Burkart or the Lucerne state councilor Damian Müller.
‘Comfort zone’
Mr. Walpen criticizes the current board of directors of the SSR: ‘Apart from President Jean-Michel Cina, do you know of a member of the board of directors who has ever come forward and who is even a little known in the country? ?’.
The members of the board of directors are ‘rather political lightweights’. The same goes for regional associations: ‘These are people who probably don’t like to leave their comfort zone. Whereas, from my point of view, they are there for precisely that. The body responsible for the SSR must be fundamentally reformed, adds Walpen.
The general director of SSR Gillles Marchand, in office since 2017, announced Thursday that he will go into early retirement at the beginning of 2025 at the latest. The company wants to prepare, with new management, for debates on the media policy of years to come. In addition to the initiative on the reduction of the royalty, these are the negotiations on the new concessions in 2027 and the decisions taken in 2028.
/ATS
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