More complaints against radio and television
The Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television (UBI) received 26 new complaints last year. Of the 23 cases resolved during the same period, the UBI upheld three complaints.
After being informed by the Federal Council, the UBI publishes its activity report for 2015. 26 new complaints against radio and television broadcasts by Swiss broadcasters were received, six more than in the previous year. The ombudsman offices upstream of the UBI received a total of 237 complaints in the same period, according to the statement. 11 percent of these cases thus resulted in a complaint procedure before the UBI.
With one exception - Radio Top - the 26 new complaints received were directed against broadcasts from SRG programs. The subject of complaints were broadcasts from Fernsehen SRF (9), Radio SRF (7), Fernsehen RTS (5) and one each from Radio RTS, Fernsehen RSI, Radio RSI and Radio Top. One complaint concerned broadcasts from both Radio and Fernsehen RTS. The relatively high proportion of radio broadcasts complained about and the further increase in the number of complaints from French-speaking countries are striking. The complaints were spread across 19 different broadcasting formats and the vast majority concerned news and other information programs such as political, consumer, business, knowledge or cultural magazines as well as discussion formats. Satirical radio programs were the subject of two complaints. The programs complained about dealt with various topics such as the federal elections, the inheritance tax initiative, agricultural policy, social welfare, speeding laws, geriatric care, climate change, the Geneva Motor Show, Easter, a novel or the conflicts in Syria and Gaza.
In three of the complaint proceedings concluded in the reporting year, the UBI found a violation of the law, specifically a violation of the principle of material fairness. The UBI upheld complaints against two reports by Radio SRF. The news program "Heute Morgen" conveyed a false impression about the reasons for the departure of large companies from Switzerland. As part of a critical report on a telemarketing company, the consumer magazine "Espresso" summarized a sales pitch in an inaccurate manner. Finally, the UBI did not consider a report by the consumer magazine "Kassensturz" on SRF television about "dental malpractice" to be appropriate because essential facts were not mentioned.
