Press council agrees with Tages-Anzeiger
Are journalists allowed to publish a confidential draft of an investigative report ahead of schedule if it is going to be made public in a few weeks anyway? According to the Press Council, it depends on whether there is significant public interest in the information it contains.
In addition, the decisive factor is whether it is to be feared that the premature publication will impair interests that are particularly worthy of protection. In late summer 2012, the Tages-Anzeiger published confidential information from the draft report of the Parliamentary Investigation Commission on the incidents surrounding the Civil Service Insurance Fund of the Canton of Zurich (BVK) that had been leaked to it. The Cantonal Council of the Canton of Zurich filed a criminal complaint and complained to the Swiss Press Council that the Tages-Anzeiger - and additionally Weltwoche - had violated the provisions of the Journalists' Code on the publication of confidential information. It would have been possible and reasonable for the two media to wait until the planned publication of the report before the fall vacations.
The Press Council rejects the complaint, as it says in a statement. In the case of Weltwoche, it has not been established that the magazine had the confidential document at its disposal at all and quoted from it beyond the adoption of formulations from Tages-Anzeiger. In the case of the Tages-Anzeiger, the Press Council considers it legitimate that, in view of the great public interest in the subject of BVK, it did not wait more than a month before publishing it - a few days would have been reasonable. Especially since it was not evident how the premature publication affected interests that were worthy of extreme protection.
