UBI: More radio and television broadcasts objected to

The Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television (UBI) has published its annual report for 2011, as detailed in a press release on Wednesday. In the reporting year, 18 new complaints were received by the UBI (previous year 14). In the same period, the ombudsman's offices upstream of the UBI received a total of 222 complaints (previous year: 170). This means that only 8.1 percent of cases were referred to the UBI.

The majority of the complaints lodged with the UBI were directed against television broadcasts, ten against Swiss television alone. Twelve complaints concerned German-language and six French-language programs. The vast majority of the complaints concerned information programs that dealt with current political issues and, in particular, upcoming elections and referendums. The most complained about program was Swiss television's "Tagesschau" with seven complaints.

The UBI settled a total of 23 complaint proceedings in 2011. It found a violation of the law in six of the completed complaints procedures. In all cases, the principle of fairness, which focuses on the free formation of public opinion, was the decisive provision. In particular, the UBI approved complaints against the following broadcasting contributions: the communication of opinion polls in two complaints ("Tagesschau" and "10 vor 10" on Swiss television), about a wage dispute in the construction industry ("Tagesschau" on Swiss television), about Carl Hirschmann ("Züri News" broadcast by Tele Züri), about the magazine of the Association against Animal Factories ("19.30" on Télévision Suisse Romande) and a discussion about the regional television license ("Fokus" on Tele Ostschweiz). The Federal Supreme Court overturned the Tele Ostschweiz decision following an appeal.

> To the UBI annual report (PDF)

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