Schweizerischer Verein für ausgewogene Berichterstattung
SVFAB does not measure by its own standards. We measure by the standards set by law, by science and by a study commissioned by SRG itself.
Art. 4 of the Federal Act on Radio and Television (RTVG) requires: «Editorial programmes with information content must present facts and events fairly, so that the audience can form its own opinion» (para. 2). And: «Licensed programme services must appropriately express the variety of events and opinions in the totality of their editorial programmes» (para. 4). This is not wishful thinking — it is binding Swiss law. Complaints about the content of editorial programmes are decided by the Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television (UBI); it does not act ex officio (Art. 86 para. 5 RTVG). The English wording follows the unofficial translation on fedlex.admin.ch.
SVFAB operationalises this legal mandate: we translate «balance» from a vague impression into measurable, documentable criteria.
In 2016, SRG SSR commissioned the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (GDI) — one of Switzerland’s most renowned research institutes — to produce a baseline study on its future. The result: the study «Öffentlichkeit 4.0 – Die Zukunft der SRG im digitalen Ökosystem» (The future of SRG in the digital ecosystem; GDI, Rüschlikon/Zurich 2016).
In it, the GDI describes what a media service public should achieve:
«A media service public does not have the task of transporting very specific content into the minds of the population. It acts as a platform on which meaning emerges through a shared exchange.» (own translation)
The most important quality feature, according to the GDI, is integration performance: the ability of a medium to include different groups of society in a common discourse — without favouring particular positions.
The GDI stated that integration performance «can be checked with measurable criteria» (own translation). An analysis of the entire offering is still missing; the Federal Council writes: «An analysis of SRG’s entire information offering, however, does not exist» (answer to interpellation 26.3441, 27 May 2026; own translation).
SVFAB does it.
The GDI refers to a 2012 survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University: regular viewers of Fox News were less well informed about domestic and international facts than people who followed no news at all. Best informed were the listeners of the non-commercial stations of National Public Radio (NPR).
According to the GDI, public service media should «guarantee that the discourse remains democratic and cannot be dominated by any one party alone – that is, prevent media segregation from arising» (own translation).
Art. 4 RTVG is not a bureaucratic appendix. It is protection of democracy. SVFAB checks whether it is complied with.
The Forschungszentrum Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft (fög) at the University of Zurich publishes the annual Jahrbuch Qualität der Medien (yearbook on media quality) — the authoritative scientific reference on journalistic quality in Switzerland. The fög measures quality in four dimensions: relevance, diversity, contextualisation and professionalism.
SVFAB complements this approach with a different question: are the positions of the population represented proportionally? Not whether a report is journalistically careful — but whether the programme as a whole reflects the diversity of opinion in society, as Art. 4 RTVG requires.
Both approaches are complementary. The fög measures the quality of the individual report, SVFAB measures the balance of the overall programme over time.
SVFAB analyses SRG broadcasts (Tagesschau, Rundschau, 10vor10, Arena, etc.) using an AI-assisted method against 18+1 criteria: 18 quality criteria, 16 of them with a score, and the Source Traffic Light as a separate instrument. The criteria range from expert selection, source selection and completeness to framing, word choice and guilt by association, through to timing, prejudgement and source attribution.
The analysis is highly reproducible, transparent and verifiable: findings that can be tied to a specific point in the broadcast are referenced to the minute and second, and can therefore be checked independently.
As of October 2026, the SVFAB corpus comprises >25 million programme units from 150 countries in 70 languages.
Independent media — newspapers, online portals, blogs — may pursue an editorial line. That is their right, and it is part of freedom of expression. Nobody expects programmatic neutrality from the Weltwoche or the WOZ.
A different standard applies to public service media. SRG receives a share of the radio and television fee: CHF 1.319 billion in 2024 and, according to the Federal Council, around CHF 1.2 billion from 2029, paid by households and businesses. Art. 4 RTVG obliges it to present facts and events fairly and to express the variety of opinions. This legal obligation applies to radio and television, not to newspapers, online portals or blogs.
SVFAB exclusively measures compliance with this legal mandate. We measure public service broadcasters, not private media. This is not favouritism; it follows from the funding: whoever receives public money is accountable to the public.
SVFAB is not a political committee and not an interest group. We do not criticise any party and do not support any. We measure — against criteria drawn from law and science, and from the study that SRG itself commissioned.
Our goal is an SRG that meets its own standards.
The SVFAB methodology is documented in scientific papers, freely available on SSRN:
Paper 1 — Framework
Schlaepfer, David (2026). Systematic AI-Assisted Analysis of Public Broadcaster Impartiality: A Scalable Methodological Framework for Measuring Structural Bias in Public Service Media.
SSRN: ssrn.com/abstract=6688478 · DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.6688478
Paper 2 — Noise Detection (Suppression Index)
Schlaepfer, David (2026). Measuring Editorial Noise: A Retrospective Suppression Index for Public Broadcasting Content Analysis.
Results: svfab.ch/noise-detection · SSRN: ssrn.com/abstract=6733280
Paper 3 — Source Traffic Light & Credibility Matrix
Schlaepfer, David (2026). The Source Traffic Light: A Six-Dimensional Credibility Framework for Systematic Source Assessment in Public Service Media.
SSRN: ssrn.com/abstract=6733880 · DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.6733880
Sources: Federal Act on Radio and Television (RTVG), SR 784.40, Art. 4 and 86 · GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute (2016): «Öffentlichkeit 4.0», commissioned by SRG SSR · Forschungszentrum Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft (fög), Jahrbuch Qualität der Medien 2015 · Fairleigh Dickinson University (2012), cited in GDI 2016 · Federal Council, answer to interpellation 26.3441 (27 May 2026) · Federal Council, press release of 19 June 2024 (SRG’s fee share)