No violation of privacy
The Press Council has ruled that the publication of private photos of a former Miss Switzerland and her ex-boyfriend was, on the whole, «appropriate from a professional ethics standpoint.».
Shortly after an ex-Miss Switzerland and her boyfriend broke up, Blickamabend.ch published photos of the couple. The pictures all came from the boyfriend's Instagram account - he had made it accessible to everyone. Did the online edition of Blick am Abend thus violate media ethics principles?
For the Press Council, the argument that neither the ex-Miss Switzerland nor her ex-boyfriend objected to the publication of the pictures is not valid. In principle, explicit consent must be obtained when publishing private photos from social networks. However, if an account is deliberately and voluntarily made publicly accessible and the owner and the people in the pictures have already appeared in public, publication of the photos could be justified, the Press Council specifies in its statement.
The crucial point, however, is another: The former Miss Switzerland has publicly disclosed her relationship, including crises, several times. Through their behavior, the former Miss Switzerland and her boyfriend - the latter, however, to a much lesser extent - have determined the degree to which their private lives are discussed in public. The Press Council is therefore of the opinion that the publication of these harmless photos, which hardly affect the privacy of the two, was correct from a professional ethics point of view.
