Cowardly outrage journalism
COLUMN Ringier Chairman of the Board of Directors Michael Ringier* on Roger Köppel's controversial statements on Hermann Göring and the lack of outrage among Swiss journalists.Roger Köppel is the owner and editor-in-chief of the Swiss weekly magazine "Weltwoche" and was elected to parliament this year as a representative of the right-wing conservative SVP with the best result of any politician ever elected. In addition to his admiration for Christoph Blocher, his paper also finds kind words for Viktor Orban's or Vladimir Putin's politics, and Sepp Blatter is the Swiss of the Year for him. But since his first editorial of this year, we know even more: He is also a Hermann Goering-understanding, one of the most cringe-worthy figures of the last century.A single sentence, which speaks of a criminal state, mountains of corpses and a bombed continent, is contrasted by several paragraphs with thoroughly admirable and friendly adjectives about Goering as a person. And what is the reaction of Swiss journalists to this text? Apart from an article in a regional newspaper and a commentary by a theater director in a Sunday newspaper, hardly a line is lost about it.And this in the heyday of outrage journalism. Hundreds of articles were written because a juvenile delinquent received expensive special treatment, including Thai boxing lessons. When a Green politician sent nude pictures of his workplace, the guardians of Swiss democracy were outraged in over a thousand articles. And after the current president of the National Council allowed herself to be abused by a lobbyist, a journalistic squall swept over the deserving parliamentarian.But understanding and kind words about a Nazi? About the founder of the Gestapo? About the butcher of the opposition? About the co-responsible for the construction of the first concentration camps? Oh, what is that against a penis photo of a parliamentarian or 30,000 francs monthly costs for the special treatment of a criminal. And Roger Köppel even gives the reason for this himself in his editorial: "One must never underestimate incompetence in politics." The same is probably true for journalism.P.S. When one of our editors-in-chief wrote exceedingly kind lines about a probable war criminal a few years ago, he was promptly fired.
