Advance in the Grand Council | October 22, 2024
The Bern government council does not want to give young people a newspaper subscription for their 18th birthday. He makes this clear in his response to a proposal from Grand Councilor Manuel C. Widmer (Greens).
The Bernese government council doesn’t want to know anything about a free newspaper subscription for young adults. (Symbolic image) Photo: Keystone
Young adults are often faced with a variety of information sources such as social media that lack depth and regional relevance, writes Widmer in his proposal. A free newspaper subscription for a year could have a positive impact on young people, their media literacy and their participation in democracy.
The postulate has broad support: it was co-signed by Grand Council members from the SP, EVP, Center, GLP and SVP. The government is requesting acceptance and simultaneous write-off of the proposal, as can be seen from the response published on Monday. The concern had already recently been examined and rejected when the new information law was being drawn up.
On the one hand, there would be high costs for the canton of Bern, where around 9,600 18-year-olds currently live. If only half of them received a subscription to the newspaper “Der Bund” including digital access, it would cost taxpayers 5.6 million francs.
On the other hand, young people are increasingly using other digital and social media. An annual subscription to traditional media titles ignores the actual information habits of young people.
Individual cantons such as Friborg, Vaud and Geneva are currently experimenting with media vouchers, as the Bern government council admits. Depending on the experience gained, the canton of Bern could assess the situation again later.
