Press Council: Contradictory statements must both be quoted
If two critical statements contradict each other, both must be quoted. The Press Council has partially upheld a complaint filed by Christian Lüscher, a National Council member from Geneva representing the FDP, against the French-Swiss magazine L'Hebdo.
The magazine had reported in March 2015 about a "conflict of interest" of Lüscher as the lawyer of the son of former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and as a national councilor. Abacha's son was accused of helping his father embezzle millions in the 1990s. As a lawyer, Lüscher defended the interests of his client, the Press Council quoted from the article in Wednesday's statement. But as a parliamentarian and member of the legal commission, Lüscher was called upon to decide how potentate funds could best be returned to the affected population, it said. L'Hebdo had quoted an SP parliamentarian as saying that Lüscher had not disclosed this "conflict of interest." On the other hand, it did not quote the statement of a CVP parliamentarian according to which Lüscher had spontaneously referred to his attorney's mandate in the commission when discussing the draft law.
Quote even without date
However, the parliamentarian could not specify when exactly Lüscher had made his statement. L'Hebdo based its report on the secret minutes of the commission, which it could not quote. According to the Press Council, no corresponding intervention by Lüscher was mentioned in the minutes. In the eyes of the Press Council, the magazine violated the "Declaration of the Duties and Rights of Journalists" by not quoting the CVP parliamentarian. This requires, among other things, that no important elements of information may be suppressed. Because the two parliamentarians had made contradictory statements, it would have been fair to quote the statement that exonerated Lüscher, the Press Council found. This was also the case if the date of Lüscher's intervention was not known. (SDA)
