When a newspaper can no longer sell its articles, it is left with two options: to question itself... or live off subsidies and propaganda.
Freedom has chosen.
Under the guise of ’opinion«, its editor-in-chief is turning a publicly-funded medium into a pro-European leaflet, scorning all dissenting voices. And that poses a real democratic problem.
There are newspapers that provide information.
And there are those who militate while claiming to inform.
La Liberté clearly belongs in the second category.
In its «opinion» section, the Fribourg newspaper - largely subsidised by public money - is once again engaged in an exercise in pro-European propaganda, by its editor-in-chief, François Mauron.
A disturbing paradox:
⮕ a title that claims to be «neutral»
⮕ financed by the Confederation
⮕ but unable to sell its content on its own
⮕ and who makes up for this public disinterest with ideology.
Why these subsidies?
Because this newspaper would not survive on the readers' market alone. The verdict is simple: when content is of real interest, it sells. When it doesn't, we subsidise it... and politicise it.
Contempt, caricature and armchair journalism
François Mauron takes the liberty of commenting on a political conference which he did not attend, This is done by caricaturing the arguments, ridiculing the speakers, and disqualifying any criticism of the CH-EU agreements with crude amalgams.
That's not journalism.
This is editorial condescension.
As the author rightly points out Nicolas Kolly, La Liberté continues its campaign feigning objectivity, while refusing to systematically giving a voice to the critics of these agreements, which are crucial to the country's future.
A newspaper that is useful to the people of Fribourg would ask the real questions.
And what if La Liberté finally got to the heart of the matter?
Let's take a concrete example, brushed aside by François Mauron:
European bureaucracy applied to the agri-food industry.
The CH-EU agreements now involve the resumption of 61 European legislative acts in the area of food safety, including
- Regulation (EC) no. 852/2004 - the Hygiene of foodstuffs
- Regulation (EC) no. 178/2002 General principles of food law
- Regulation (EU) 2017/625 - Official controls
⮕ What real impact will these rules have on Fribourg's agri-food sector?
⮕ On SMEs, craftsmen, local producers?
⮕ On costs, competitiveness, regulatory independence?
Radio silence.
Clearly, it's easier - and more comfortable - to devote pages to the «woke» polemics about the bogeyman than it is to deal with the 'wacky'. a strategic issue for the cantonal economy.
Subsidised, but not accountable to the public?
When a newspaper lives on public funds, it has a greater duty of pluralism.
When it is exempt, it becomes a taxpayer-funded opinion-former.
Freedom is not neutral.
She chooses her side.
And it does so with the money of those it despises when they think otherwise.
Conclusion - The problem is not the SVP. The problem is the subsidised militant press.
Swiss democracy is based on debate, confrontation of ideas and respect for the sovereign people.
Not sanctimonious editorials written from a subsidised ivory tower.
Liberté would be well advised to rediscover what its name once promised.
Because a press that confuses information with propaganda always prepares the ground...
to the submission it claims to fight in others.
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