Swissinfo - History

History

In the mid 1990s, economic circumstances forced swissinfo to take a new strategic direction. The internet was advancing fast, heralding a new era for the producing journalists and the Swiss Radio International (SRI) audience alike. The German, French, English and Portuguese sites went online in 1999. The Japanese, Italian and Spanish sites followed in 2000, with Arabic going live on 1 February 2001 and Chinese in September of the same year. Within just two years, the internet platform for expatriate Swiss was already better known than SRI's short-wave radio services.

On 21 March 2005, the Board of Directors of SRG SSR decided to reduce the swissinfo service significantly. At the time, the decision was not final and still had to be confirmed by the regulatory body – the Federal Office of Communications – and the Swiss Federal Council. That decision was expected in the autumn of 2005. SRG SSR's intention to cut swissinfo back to a minimum triggered an enormous response from users and readers. There was widespread lack of understanding for the move. The SRG SSR plan for the future was to produce a reduced service in English only. This service was to be integrated into SR DRS. Only specific information for Swiss people living abroad would be provided in Switzerland's national languages. One journalist would be responsible for each language, and the service would be produced by one of the existing SRG SSR enterprise units. In the end, the public had their way. In the summer of 2007, the Federal Council issued swissinfo with a new charter to provide a specific and clearly defined internet-focused news, information and entertainment service.

Peter Schibli became the new editor-in-chief of swissinfo.ch on 1 January 2008. Schibli, who holds a doctorate in law, succeeds Christoph Heri, who retired on 31 March 2008 after a 30-year media career, the last six years of which were spent with the swissinfo editorial team. The new editor-in-chief is charged with fulfilling the content aspects of the Federal Council charter and with positioning swissinfo.ch as a leading nine-language news and information platform for both expatriate Swiss and an international audience with an interest in Switzerland.