Press Council: The Editor-in-Chief has the last word
At a daily newspaper, the editor-in-chief has the final say. He determines what is published. The Swiss Press Council has rejected a complaint by the Liechtenstein Democracy Movement against the newspaper Liechtensteiner Vaterland.
The complaint concerns the new publication of the crime novel "The Abduction" by Liechtenstein author Armin Oehri, which made waves in the Principality last summer. The publisher and author accused the Liechtensteiner Vaterland of boycotting the book because it addressed a sensitive topic in Liechtenstein history. The Press Council said on Tuesday that there could be no question of a boycott. It rejected the complaint on the grounds that it is at the sole discretion of an editorial office whether it reviews a book or publishes an interview with the author. In addition, it is standard media practice in hierarchically organized editorial offices for the editor-in-chief to decide what is published.
Günther Fritz, editor-in-chief of the Liechtensteiner Vaterland, had reacted in an editorial to boycott accusations by the rival paper and emphasized that he would not be dictated to publish a book review and/or an interview with the author. In the specific case, according to the Press Council, it has not been proven that the rejection of the book review and interview took place because a dark chapter from Liechtenstein's history should have been concealed out of consideration for a part of the readership. The Liechtensteiner Vaterland had referred to the book in June 2010 and published a detailed report on a public reading by the author in the fall.
Mini pogrom
The book "The Abduction" deals with the so-called "Rotter Affair", a story from the persecution of Jews by the Nazis. On April 5, 1933, Nazis from Germany and Liechtenstein had lured the former theater operators Fritz and Alfred Rotter and his wife Gertrud from their exile in a Liechtenstein hotel in order to abduct them to Germany. During the chase through the mountains, Fritz Rotter was able to escape, while Alfred and Gertrud Rotter fell to their deaths in the rocks below the village of Gaflei in an unexplained manner. In the trial against the four pursuers in June 1933, the court in Vaduz imposed very mild prison sentences. Even this verdict found offense. Over 700 people signed a petition for the early release of the perpetrators.
