Former Press Council President Criticizes PR Idea of SFOE
Through a call for proposals, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) is seeking an independent journalist who has good contacts with publishers of energy-sector trade journals, editorial offices, bloggers, and universities. For Peter Studer, former president of the Press Council, this is a sensitive issue.
Although the author may publish under his own name, he must "coordinate editorial contributions with the SFOE" and select the topics "in consultation with the SFOE program managers". This is what Sonntag writes. The declared aim is to include a total of 22 articles on the SFOE's services in several publications. "Transparency is an essential prerequisite for the credibility of journalists and editorial offices," Studer said according to Sonntag. The SFOE's contractors should also be expected to label themselves accordingly so that the public knows that the text is written with a positive attitude towards the SFOE and that critical aspects are not to be expected.
This is exactly what the SFOE intends to do, as spokesperson Philipp Schwander confirms according to Sontag. "We will indicate in a suitable form that we are behind a publication," he says. They want an external journalist to provide "an independent view" of the programs.
The journalist would receive a maximum of CHF 110,000 per year from the SFOE. If he receives a fee for the texts from the newspapers and magazines, he must pay 70 percent of this to the SFOE, as Sonntag writes further. Studer criticizes the fact that the articles can also be offered free of charge. This puts genuine freelance science journalists at a disadvantage, as they cannot offer their articles free of charge.
