The WoZ does not gain access to the WEF in Davos
The weekly newspaper *Die Wochenzeitung* (WoZ) will not be granted access to the 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. According to the WEF, the accreditation application was submitted very late; this is not a case of censorship.
As WoZ co-editor Yves Wegelin told the Keystone-SDA news agency on Thursday, the paper met the deadline for accreditation. On the morning of Oct. 30, one day before the deadline, the WoZ had made a request by mail asking for accreditation for the WEF at the end of January 2020, he said.
At noon on November 12, the answer came that not all media would be admitted to the event. According to Wegelin, the WEF gives preference to media that also work with the organization during the year.
The WoZ had contacted the WEF extremely late, one day before the deadline for accreditation, Yann Zopf from the WEF media office told Keystone-SDA. Based on this, it was determined that the quota for the Swiss media was already full. This had nothing to do with censorship.
Every year, the WEF receives thousands of media requests for accreditation. For reasons of space, a contingent of a maximum of 500 journalists is admitted, although in some cases several journalists from one medium are admitted.
Imprint criticizes decision
Already in 2012, the WoZ had not received the accreditation. At that time, the WEF was probably persuaded to change its mind after media pressure and a political initiative, as Impressum, the association of journalists, announced on Thursday. Thus, the newspaper was able to regain accreditation for the following years in 2013.
According to the imprint, the WEF "does not provide any comprehensible reasons why the WoZ should not receive accreditation. The forum acts arbitrarily and violates the freedom of the press in its actions. For these reasons, Imprint disapproves of this unjustified denial of access. (SDA)
