Hildebrand article: Press Council reprimands Blick
The Press Council has largely upheld a complaint filed by former SNB President Philipp Hildebrand. In its article about Hildebrand, *Der Blick* allegedly violated, among other things, the duty to report the truth and the duty to hear the other side in cases involving serious allegations.
On November 13, 2013, the Blick newspaper ran a front-page story about a letter to the editor written by the former secretary of SVP politician Christoph Blocher. Among other things, she wrote that Hildebrand had left his wife out of greed. Hildebrand then appealed to the Press Council. He argued that the article violated the principle of fairness. The Press Council has now ruled in Hildebrand's favor on the main points, as it announced on Friday. The Blick had colported the insinuations of Blocher's former secretary without really distancing itself from them, criticized the Press Council. With lurid headlines in the indicative, the allegations were presented as facts and inflated, although it was only a matter of personal speculation. Blick had claimed to the Press Council that the article had been written as a result of a misunderstanding between production and author. In addition, the editorial team had corrected it the following day. In the view of the Press Council, however, the article was not corrected, but "only turned further and shifted from the personal to the political corner of the rumor mill". In doing so, Blick had violated the duty to tell the truth as well as the duty to hear serious accusations, to correct them and to protect privacy. (SDA)
