Swiss Press Council reprimands Blick: Feelings of relatives disregarded
Blick and Blick am Abend grossly disregarded the feelings of the deceased’s relatives by publishing photos of a corpse. The Swiss Press Council has therefore upheld the complaint filed by the deceased’s family.
The two newspapers had reported on the discovery of remains of a body by students in a forest. The article was illustrated with two pictures. One showed an overview of the discovery site, the smaller one a close-up of a skull. The family of the man who died years ago complained to the Press Council that the photos blatantly disregarded human dignity and victim protection. They had learned of the death only a few days before publication.
The Press Council ruled that both photos exceeded the limit of what was justified by the public's need for information. Even if the newspapers did not mention the name of the deceased. The ethics committee recalls that journalists must always respect human dignity. And in the text as well as in the selection of images.
