Press Council: distorting title at Le Matin
Is a satirical article allowed to distort the facts? No, says the Press Council. At least the core of a satire must be true and the satire must be recognizable to the audience as an intention.
Le Matin headlined a short text about animal rights activist Erwin Kessler: "He wants to save the Botox bacteria". In it, the author referred to a recent federal court ruling that upheld a judgment against Kessler for defamation of the Tagesschaus spokeswoman Katja Stauber, according to the Press Council on Tuesday. The animal rights activist complained to the Press Council that Le Matin was omitting that the production of Botox was accompanied by cruel poisoning experiments on laboratory animals and that there had never been any talk of protecting the Botox bacteria. The newspaper replies that the abbreviated presentation of the facts is permissible in a satirical article.
In its statement, the Press Council recalls that professional ethical standards also apply to satirical contributions. The audience must be enabled to distinguish between facts and evaluations. In addition, the satire must be based on a true factual core. The disputed title does not fulfill this requirement. In addition, the context of the publication did not allow the readership to readily recognize the satirical intent - the text appeared on the editorial page.
Teaser image Erwin Kessler: Keystone
