Riklin brothers file complaint against NZZ
The action artists Patrik and Frank Riklin from St. Gallen have lodged a complaint with the Press Council against the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The NZZ had used a picture of their latest art action in Schaffhausen for an article on Russia.
On September 2, the NZZ a text with the title "Russian disinformation shows: Switzerland has long been at war". The article was illustrated with a photo of the latest art project by brothers Frank and Patrik Riklin, in which they sawed up yellow benches in Schaffhausen.
The picture of the sawed-up bench was taken by a photographer from the Keystone-SDA news agency. The image was freely available to media customers in the database. As the Riklin brothers write in their complaint to the Press Council, which was also reported on Thursday by the Schaffhausen News reported, the NZZ but the recording is used without any context.
"Nothing to do with war"
What is to be seen in the picture is not stated. The word "symbolic image" is also missing. As a result, her art campaign is associated with Russian disinformation, which has caused considerable confusion in her environment and on social media.
There have been people who have called them "war artists". "Our action has nothing whatsoever to do with war, on the contrary," the brothers said when asked.
In their opinion, the NZZ against the Code of Journalism. It states the following on the subject of "illustrations": symbolic images that do not refer directly to the text must be labeled as such.
Keystone-SDA's picture of the Schaffhausen art project made it all the way to Russia, to a relevant propaganda channel. "RT DE", the German-language program of the Russian state broadcaster RT, ran the headline: "Switzerland absurd: Because art project degenerated, it was of course Russian propaganda".
The Riklin brothers will probably have to wait a year for the Press Council's decision. (SDA/swi)
