Schaffhausen government wants to take action against SRF contribution
The Schaffhausen government plans to file a complaint with the SRG Ombudsman’s Office regarding a segment on «Rundschau.» The program featured a case of a woman being beaten in Schaffhausen, and the government claims that several rights were violated in connection with the segment.
The "Rundschau" had stirred up uncertainty with the report. Even before the broadcast, cantonal representatives had pointed out to the journalists "the problematic nature of such reporting", wrote a representative of the Schaffhausen Department of Economic Affairs at the request of the Keystone-SDA news agency on Friday evening, confirming a report on the Tamedia newspapers' online portal.
The government will complain to the SRF Ombudswoman that, despite this warning, the reports disregarded journalistic due diligence, program regulations and the fundamental rights of the authorities and parties involved in the proceedings.
The media office of Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) said on Friday evening that the company had not yet received any complaints from the Schaffhausen authorities.
"We are therefore somewhat surprised that the canton of Schaffhausen is informing the media in advance about the grounds for complaint. As we do not know what exactly is being claimed in the complaint, we cannot comment on it. SRF will comment in detail on the allegations as part of the ombudsman proceedings."
Criticism of law enforcement authorities
The "Rundschau" reported on the ongoing proceedings into an alleged beating attack on a 43-year-old woman from Schaffhausen in a lawyer's apartment. The woman suffered serious injuries. The incident took place in 2021.
In the article, the journalists made accusations against the police and the public prosecutor's office of the canton of Schaffhausen. They claimed that they had carried out an almost amateurish investigation.
The report led to a rally of several hundred people in Schaffhausen at the end of May. They accused the criminal prosecution authorities in this case, but also in other cases of violence and sexual offenses against women, of not investigating professionally and consistently enough.
Case under investigation
Last week, the Schaffhausen government announced that it was having the police's actions in this case investigated externally. It commissioned the former criminal law professor Andreas Donatsch to do so. The investigation is expressly limited to the conduct of the police in the case criticized by the "Rundschau".
Explicitly excluded is the work of the public prosecutor's office, which was also criticized in the television report. According to a communiqué issued last week, an external investigation into the work of the public prosecutor's office in ongoing proceedings would constitute undue influence in the government's view. (SDA)
