View: Pillory Breakdown
In the Thun «sex scandal,» *Blick* published photos of the three accused. Critics say they were too easily identifiable. What’s more, one of the individuals pictured now works at Ringier.
Two of the accused were shown with a black bar. As Schweiz am Sonntag writes, they can be identified with the simplest of research. Mouth parts and hair allow clear conclusions about the identity of the accused due to the incomplete anonymization. The third defendant is even more clearly identifiable, the newspaper criticizes. The additional information that the goalkeeper at the time was a "Nati-Goalie" leaves no doubt whatsoever as to who he was. At the time of publication, the Thun Regional Court had not yet pronounced a verdict.
Former Press Council President Peter Studer finds the reporting "very problematic". Two of the accused were easily recognizable in the interaction of text and picture and thus "exposed in a medium-sized local environment". In the case of the goalkeeper, Studer even sees "a clear violation of personality protection" by the tabloid.
According to research by Schweiz am Sonntag, one of the three accused now works in a management position at Ringier. The newspaper suspects that the sports editors were unaware of this and were made aware of it by an online comment. When asked by the Sonntagsblatt, neither Blick sports chief Felix Bingesser nor Ringier spokesman Edi Estermann would comment on the story.
The "sex scandal" is about three FC Thun players at the time who were accused of raping a woman in 2005. The Bernese Oberland public prosecutor's office dropped the case in 2013 for lack of evidence. Unjustly, found the Federal Court, to which the woman had appealed the verdict - the prosecution had to press charges. Last Friday, the three defendants were acquitted. (hae/Switzerland am Sonntag)
