Liechtenstein voters turned off the country's public broadcaster Liechtenstein Radio at the ballot box on Sunday. A popular initiative to cut state funding for Liechtenstein Radio has been approved.
Soon you won't need it anymore: the microphone of Radio Liechtenstein.Image: trapezoid
According to the Liechtenstein government voting website, 6,786 people voted in favor of the popular initiative of the small party Democratic Party of Liechtenstein (DPL), and 5,457 people voted against it. This corresponds to 55.4% of the votes cast in favor. Voter turnout was 59.3%.
Radio Liechtenstein is funded primarily by public funds and is free to listeners. The station receives nearly 4 million francs a year (70% of total media funding) and has had to be bailed out several times with emergency loans, troubled by its promoters.
With the right specifications (such as performance requirements), personal radios can do more at a lower price. This is also demonstrated by other private radio stations in Switzerland.
Radio Alpin, the new private station founded by media entrepreneur Roger Schawinski, will broadcast throughout the canton of Graubünden in three languages from 2025 and receive a smaller annual subsidy than public broadcaster Liechtenstein Much more, 2.8 million francs. With these arguments, smaller parties were able to convince a majority of voters.
Government doubts success of private radio stations
The government unsuccessfully opposed the request. She doubted it would be profitable to run a private radio station in a small state of 40,000 residents. “If the initiative is accepted, there is a significant risk that Liechtenstein will no longer have any radio stations in the future,” the government warned in its voting message.
Public broadcasting is an important and trustworthy source of information that shapes public opinion and also has an identity-shaping function. No longer having Radio Liechtenstein means “less media diversity and less democracy”.
Voters now want to take that risk. Since Liechtenstein has no television stations, the decision marks its farewell to public media. (DAB/National Development Administration)
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