Gilles Marchand joins the UNIGE Philanthropy Center

The Center for Philanthropy of the University of Geneva (GCP) will launch the Media and Philanthropy Initiative (IMP) next March, announces the communications service of the University of Geneva (UNIGE).

Gilles Marchand, former director general of the SSR, was chosen to lead this project. Objective: study and encourage philanthropic engagement in the media field, in response to the profound challenges facing this sector.

Structural crisis

In the context of the major structural crisis affecting business models in the media, “philanthropy plays an important role in maintaining a pluralistic public debate, essential to good democratic functioning,” underlines UNIGE in a press release. .

The Center’s IMP in Philanthropy aims to study this form of engagement in the field of media and to develop concrete tools and processes, particularly in terms of governance and sustainable financing models, which meet current requirements. .

The project is part of a collaborative approach and benefits from a partnership with the HEC Montréal media center.

Media figure

A well-known figure on the Swiss media scene, Gilles Marchand will head the IMP from March 2025. “The proper functioning of a democratic society relies largely on the quality and diversity of the media. The current crisis, both economically and in terms of confidence, is extremely worrying, considers Gilles Marchand. Encouraging philanthropic commitment in this area is essential and requires developing professional and effective tools. I am very happy to invest in this issue, combining professional and academic expertise.”

Recently “retired” from the SSR, this trained sociologist has more than twenty-five years of experience in the media. After starting his career at Ringier Romandie in 1998, he joined TSR in 2001 where he led the merger which led to the creation of RTS in 2010.

Gilles Marchand was head of RTS until 2016. The following year, he was appointed general director of SSR and succeeded Roger de Weck. After the end of his mandate last month, and while the SSR, in crisis, plans to cut a thousand jobs by 2029, he is joining UNIGE today to think about the future of the media and their methods of financing.

Audrey Leuba, rector of UNIGE and president of the GCP strategic committee, welcomes the launch of this project which, she says, is fully in line with the university objectives: “Providing answers to the challenges facing our societies makes part of the missions of the University of Geneva. Through its multidisciplinary and inclusive approach, its capacity to be an innovation hub as well as an essential interface between practice and research, the GCP is ideally positioned to contribute to this.”

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Laurence Bézaguet has worked at the Tribune de Genève since 1995. Started his career at Courrier before working for six years at the daily La Suisse. Was also an independent journalist for eighteen months in Canada and wrote a book on the Crossing of the Harbor, published in 1996, with former State Councilor David Hiler. More info

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