Diocese rebuffed with complaint against SonntagsZeitung

The Diocese of Basel's complaint against the SonntagsZeitung was rejected by the Press Council. According to the opinion of the Press Council, the SonntagsZeitung was allowed to describe the soberly worded canon law document entitled "Begriffserklärungen in der Angelegenheit Sabo und Röschenz" as a threat, as the assessment as well as the underlying facts were sufficiently recognizable for the readership. The newspaper had pointed out to its readership that although the text appeared harmless, under the given circumstances it was nevertheless considered an "open threat". In October 2005, the SonntagsZeitung reported that the Basel diocese was threatening "Sabo supporters with a church ban - sanctions against Catholics from Röschenz on the Basel diocese website". The diocese then lodged a complaint with the Press Council. The report was untruthful, distorted information and also made factually unjustified accusations in a discriminatory manner.