20 Minuten rejects SGB advertisement
The commuter newspaper 20 Minuten has rejected an advertisement from the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (SGB) on the naturalization initiative. According to managing director Marcel Kohler, the reason is that the advertisement accuses some SVP exponents of blackmail.
The commuter newspaper 20 Minuten has rejected an advertisement from the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (SGB) on the naturalization initiative. The ad shows well-known SVP exponents who are dubbed "sinister patriots". In red letters it says: "They want to destroy our constitutional state". And the text reads, among other things, "they are blackmailing a democratically elected Federal Councillor". Marcel Kohler, Managing Director of 20 Minuten, confirmed a report in the Sonntag newspaper at the request of SDA that the advertisement had been rejected. He defended the rejection: "Blackmail" is a criminal offense. The commuter newspaper did not want such advertisements. That was the main reason for the rejection. The newspaper would have accepted the advertisement with textual changes: instead of the word "destroy", the advertisers should write "weaken", instead of "blackmail" they should choose the wording "put under pressure".
The SGB did not respond to either and speaks of "political content" censorship in view of the rejection. It is shameful for 20 Minuten publisher Tamedia to believe that the unrestrained SVP of all people should be protected from an advertisement, criticized the trade union federation in a press release on Monday. Incidentally, the same advertisement appeared in Blick without objection.
Marcel Kohler did not accept the SGB's accusation that 20 Minuten has no problems with racist or discriminatory advertisements from the SVP. These were also looked at very closely and just last week the SVP had requested a correction in another case, which was accepted.
The controversial advertisement:
The SGB did not respond to either and speaks of "political content" censorship in view of the rejection. It is shameful for 20 Minuten publisher Tamedia to believe that the unrestrained SVP of all people should be protected from an advertisement, criticized the trade union federation in a press release on Monday. Incidentally, the same advertisement appeared in Blick without objection.
Marcel Kohler did not accept the SGB's accusation that 20 Minuten has no problems with racist or discriminatory advertisements from the SVP. These were also looked at very closely and just last week the SVP had requested a correction in another case, which was accepted.
The controversial advertisement:
