The Swiss media landscape is marked by a strong public broadcasting network, SR-SRG, and a traditionally very diversified print media sector. But the latter has been affected, for the past several years, by a strong concentration of ownership linked to a digital shift and its consequences. In French-speaking Switzerland, the leading papers are 24 heures, Tribune de Genève, Le Temps, and La Liberté. In German-speaking Switzerland, the leaders are Blick, Tages-Anzeiger, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and Basler Zeitung.

Swiss journalists are sheltered from political pressure despite the proximity maintained by some media with certain political parties. Public service broadcasting, in particular, has strong safeguards against political interference in programming. Nonetheless, there is growing criticism of a supposed lack of pluralism in TV channels.

While journalists work in a legal and regulatory environment that is generally respectful of press freedom, some laws are problematic. In 2022, the federal parliament approved a tightening of “provisional measures” that allow a judge to block the publication of journalistic content. Furthermore, attempts to correct the effects of a law – unique to Switzerland – penalising the dissemination of information covered by banking secrecy were unsuccessful. This law had deterred the Swiss media from participating in the 2015 SwissLeaks revelations about an international tax fraud system.

Media concentration and the trend of downsizing editorial staff have increased in recent years. This trend has been felt mostly in the local press, where several publications have disappeared or have been bought by the large press groups that dominate the market.

After a proposal to increase state subsidies for the media was rejected in a referendum, any renewed initiative of this kind seems to be blocked politically. The government plans to reduce the household TV tax by 15% while a proposal to reduce it by a third is to be put to a “popular initiative” referendum.

Actions by some civil society movements can reinforce cultural trends that encourage forms of censorship or self-censorship. For example, in 2021, anti-racist activists and persons claiming to be members of feminist or LGBT groups called for some media outlets to take down content, especially of a satirical nature. In one case, such demands reportedly led to material damage to a media outlet’s cars in an attempt at intimidation.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, journalists were often targeted and harassed by activists opposed to public health measures, but, for the most part, the security situation has calmed down since then.