Swiss Press Council: Ticino daily Corriere del Ticino violates code several times

Neither in terms of the duty to tell the truth did the Corriere del Ticino was correct in its reporting on the security company Argo 1, nor did it allow two security guards who had been unjustly attacked several times to be heard before publication. In addition, the newspaper published information about them that violated their personal rights. This is the Press Council's verdict on the actions of the Corriere del Ticino.

The self-regulatory body of the Swiss press was called upon by ex-Argo employees, their union and other complainants after the affair surrounding the private security company became public knowledge. Before it was awarded the CHF 3.4 million contract by the cantonal government, Argo 1, which operated several asylum centers until 2017, was neither qualified in this area nor had it taken part in a tender. Argo was reported to the Unia trade union for not following the rules when it came to paying its employees, among other things. One of the guards employed also spoke about the case on the RSI program "Falò".

The Corriere accused them of having been deliberately used by Unia as informers against the company, gave their names, place of residence, nationality and the fact that one of them receives an Italian disability pension - all this without even being able to prove any attempt to make contact - or even the accusation of industrial espionage.

The Press Council believes that this behavior violates the obligation to report truthfully as well as the mandatory hearing of named persons in the case of serious allegations. In general, the Corriere del Ticino no reason to publish the name of one of the two ex-Argo men. The second guard had already given his name himself in front of the RSI cameras. (pd)