Press Council demands separation of editorial content and advertising

 The Swiss Press Council is concerned about the increasing mixing of editorial content with advertising in the media. The rules of professional ethics also apply to the preparation and publication of reports presenting consumer goods. The Press Council recalled these principles in a statement published at its annual press conference on Wednesday in response to a complaint from the Info en danger association. In April last year, the association came to the Council with a complaint against the ever-increasing mixing of editorial content and advertising. Info en danger complained about reading more and more mail-order catalogs instead of newspapers. The Press Council took the complaint as an opportunity to address the fundamental problem raised by the complaint and held hearings with various experts in the fall of 2006. These hearings confirmed the impression that relations between editorial offices and advertisers have changed significantly in recent times. On the one hand, the volume of advertising is declining, which is increasing the pressure on newspapers. Secondly, according to the Press Council, the economic framework conditions have shifted with the emergence of free newspapers and the development of the Internet. For the Press Council, however, these shifts in emphasis do not alter the central importance of the principle of separation for the credibility of journalistically edited media. It warns that the increasingly uncritical presentation of consumer goods, the naming of product brands and the reproduction of advertising slogans in editorial reporting pose considerable risks to journalistic independence and the credibility of the media.