Observed Signal · May 26, 2026 · Organization Dissolution · Source: persoenlich.com News · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Negative
Swiss Media Quality Ranking Ends After Association Dissolves
The association Medienqualität Schweiz (MQS), founded in 2014 to promote debate and measurement of Swiss media quality, will be dissolved at the end of the year and its biennial Medienqualitätsranking will not continue. The project was produced with the Fög (University of Zurich), the University of Fribourg and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts; the last ranking appeared in 2024. Annual costs were about CHF 400–500k, financed by corporate donors such as Novartis, CSS, Denner and Swiss Re. Fög co-director Daniel Vogler said Fög will continue content-quality analyses within its yearbook, but the representative public survey component (run by Lucerne and Fribourg) is on hold due to lack of funding. Researchers Philipp Bachmann and Diana Ingenhoff plan to publish earlier studies (including work on an "Impact Score") in academic journals and to make datasets more accessible via open-data repositories.
Regional media-measurement program ending removes a public benchmarking tool for Swiss publishers and advertisers, pauses representative audience surveys and shifts future work toward academic publication and open-data — relevant for local media planning and measurement but not industry-shifting globally.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- The association Medienqualität Schweiz (MQS) will be dissolved at the end of the year.
- The biennial Medienqualitätsranking (last published in 2024) will not be continued.
- The ranking project was produced jointly by Fög (University of Zurich), University of Fribourg and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.
- Annual project costs were about CHF 400,000–500,000, funded by corporate donors including Novartis, CSS, Denner and Swiss Re.
- Fög will continue content-quality analyses in its yearbook; the representative public survey is paused due to lack of funding; academics plan to publish past studies (including an "Impact Score") and release datasets via open-data repositories.
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SwissMediaForum: Survival Struggle and Cooperation Culture
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Right-wing Forces Increase Pressure on SRG
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MAZ Reports Loss for Fiscal Year 2025
The MAZ Institute for Journalism and Communication closed its 2025 fiscal year with a reported annual loss and a notable drop in revenue. The institute’s annual report records a net loss of CHF 114,164 and an operating result of minus CHF 1.525 million, roughly CHF 0.5 million below budget. Net revenue from services fell from CHF 4.8 million to CHF 3.97 million. Both the journalism and communications divisions saw declines: journalism revenue fell to CHF 1.974 million (a five‑year low), while the communications unit missed budget and prior‑year targets by about CHF 700,000 due to cancelled longer courses. MAZ has launched a transformation project in early 2026 to review offerings and reduce fixed costs and initiated an accreditation process in H2 2025 to seek state recognition for its diplomas.
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