Médias et minorités linguistiques suisses face au "tout puissant" Schwyzerdütsch

Cultural and media diversity is multifaceted in Switzerland. Linguistics: The German-speaking part of Switzerland, comprising 17 out of 26 cantons, is home today to the principal publishers situated in Zurich: Ringier, Tamedia and NZZ Gruppe. Tamedia, who acquired Edipresse, the sole French-speaking press conglomerate of importance, dominate the print media market with the free 20 Minutes – 20 Minuten, a veritable “success story” which attracts more than 1.4 million readers for 5 out of 7 days weekly. Moreover, 20 minutes - 20 Minuten is the only title which could be considered as "national" by its distribution in a Swiss market characterized by the absence of "National Daily Press". Two titles can claim the title of "daily paper": Neue Zürcher Zeitung and Le Temps. Their respective audiences of 300,000 and 140,000 readers are stable. With nearly 200 titles in 2009 compared to a little more than 400 in 1939, Switzerland has been in a slow but continuous process of concentration of the print media for several decades. The number of titles per capita is still very high. French-speaking Switzerland has about fifteen titles for less than 1,4 million inhabitants. The regional daily press is undergoing erosion of its audience, if only because of the aging of its readership and non-generational renewal. Subscribers are disappearing. The Sunday market, with 5 titles in German-speaking Switzerland and 1 title in French-speaking Switzerland, is the most dynamic and indeed the most attractive for the double reader-advertising market. The magazine press is undergoing a period of change. There is a paradoxical situation: newspapers are suffering but the global reading of print media (without magazines but including those that are free ) has strongly increased. Global circulation has risen from 2 million copies in 1939 to about 3.6 million in 2009. This evolution reflects the increasing influence of the urban population as opposed to that of the declining countryside population. It also illustrates a cultural transformation: young people read but no longer buy newspapers. The penetration rates of newspapers are weak globally. The below-the-line sector is advancing to the detriment of the traditional media. Another perceptible transformation is taking place: the focus of public broadcasting which is undergoing both a structural and economic crisis. The SSR (radio and public television) suffers a chronic deficit. It is demanding an increase in licensing fees and has to undergo in-depth reform. The print media, which in Switzerland benefits from symbolic indirect aid (20 million euros!) is critical of the public service. “In spite of the crisis the SSR is still hungry” (The Geneva Tribune -20th April 2010). In Switzerland the next media stakes will be political. They will focus on the balance between the private sector, still dominated by the publishers of the print media, who have continued for decades to restructure and search for economies of scale by alliance or merger, and the public sector which strives to preserve its federal role between the languages, cultures and regions according to article 93 of the Swiss constitution (reflecting plurality and diversity in the programing of the public services). Other economic groups, notably in telecommunications, such as Swisscom are already supplying content. These newcomers intend to participate actively in the reorganization of the Swiss media landscape via their digital offers. Before our eyes, the media market is being transformed into a market of media content