Press Council: The end justified the means
A reporter for the newspaper *Die Zeit* pretended to be pregnant and sought advice about a possible abortion. The Press Council ruled that the undercover investigation was appropriate.
The Swiss Press Council has rejected a complaint by the Swiss Mother and Child Foundation against the Swiss edition of the weekly newspaper Die Zeit. In August 2013, the newspaper had reported on a pregnant woman's counseling session at the foundation. It was about abortion yes or no. The author posed as a woman seeking help, who is unintentionally pregnant out of wedlock.
According to the Press Council, the journalist was allowed to appear under a false identity in her self-experiment so that she could paint as authentic a picture of the consultation as possible. This is all the more so because the foundation was able to comment in detail and prominently on the content of the undercover research. When are media representatives allowed to become actors themselves in an undercover investigation? Exceptionally, according to the Press Council. First, the public interest in the researched information must prevail. Second, the journalist must not be able to obtain the information by any other means. Third, he must maintain the proportionality between the invasion of privacy and the public's interest in this information.
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