Weltwoche indicted for Roma cover story
In the latest issue of *Weltwoche*, a photo of a Roma child holding a weapon has sparked outrage and strong reactions. Complaints against the Swiss weekly magazine have already been filed in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany.
One of the plaintiffs, Austrian journalist Klaus Kamolz, wants to use the ad to send a "symbolic signal" against what he sees as Weltwoche's "blanket condemnation of Roma as criminals." He said this on Saturday at the request of the news agency SDA. The Bund and Tages-Anzeiger had already reported on Kamolz's ad on Saturday.
The complaints were triggered by the cover of the current issue of Weltwoche. The cover features a child holding a gun into the camera. The article is introduced on the front page with the words "The Roma are coming: Raids through Switzerland." The photo itself is by Italian photographer Livio Mancini. He took it in 2008 at a garbage dump on the outskirts of the Kosovar town of Gjakova, where Roma children live with their families and use the toxic waste dump as a playground. This is what the picture description on Mancini's website says.
The combination of title and picture was then also the trigger for further complaints. For example, a woman living in the canton of Baselland decided as early as Thursday morning to file a complaint against Weltwoche. She sees the anti-racism criminal norm, Article 261 of the Criminal Code, violated, the plaintiff told SDA. In addition, the Internet short message service Twitter circulated the news on Saturday that a lawsuit had also been filed in Germany in connection with the current issue of Weltwoche.
Swiss media rights expert Peter Studer also takes issue with the photo's message. It was an outrageous picture with racist overtones, Studer told Radio 1, and he could not understand why Köppel had done such a thing. But otherwise, he said, the report was "very well documented."
No understanding for outrage
On the other hand, Philipp Gut, deputy editor-in-chief of Weltwoche and co-author of the main article, cannot understand the outrage. The photograph symbolizes "the fact that Roma gangs abuse their children for criminal purposes," Gut said, according to SDA. The real scandal, he said, was that none of the outraged spoke out against this abuse. Regarding the content of the articles, Gut wrote that they brought up a "serious problem in a serious and differentiated way." The research was based on "facts and figures from the authorities and from Roma organizations themselves.
> Weltwoche cover: outrage also in Germany
