"Gerigate" costs Weltwoche Urs Paul Engeler

Engeler, one of the country's best-known journalists thanks to numerous investigative stories, now confirms to the NZZ am Sonntag the break with Weltwoche already expressed in the industry journal Schweizer Journalist. After his retirement, Engler continued to write for the weekly newspaper and advised his younger colleagues. That is now over. The reason: Weltwoche had lied to its readers in the Geri Müller case. According to Engeler, this robbed the paper of its credibility.

Weltwoche had falsely claimed that it had not made the nude selfie affair public for reasons of personal privacy. The deputy editor-in-chief Philipp Gut is said to have contacted Müller by e-mail the afternoon before the editorial deadline with a request for a statement on sexual images taken in official premises. Weltwoche is of the opinion that the public has a right to know "what goes on in official offices. Müller's lawyer responded with a warning referring to the protection of personality and the lack of evidence. Gut did not let go of the story, but contacted Müller's chat partner with the request to give him her cell phone. The cell phone would have noticeably improved the evidence compared to the existing screenshots. When the chat partner refused, Weltwoche dropped the story for the time being.

When Schweiz am Sonntag published the story five days later, Weltwoche did a 180-degree turn: Gut and editor-in-chief Köppel henceforth defended Müller's privacy and denied the public a legitimate interest in "consensual sex dialogue between reasonable adults." The chat partner and former informant was described as mentally ill and, in Engeler's eyes, burned up and publicly exposed.

Dominque von Burg, president of the Press Council, tells the NZZ am Sonntag that such behavior is "incompatible with the protection of whistleblowers. Editor-in-chief Roger Köppel would not comment on "internal matters." (hae/NZZaS)