Press Council: Not everyone is entitled to coverage
The public's right to information does not mean an individual's right to report on himself. The Swiss Press Council did not uphold a complaint by Zurich Council of States candidate Toni Stadelmann against the Tages-Anzeiger.
Stadelmann ran as an outsider in the Zurich elections for the Council of States last year. He and two other lone candidates entered the second ballot together with political heavyweights Verena Diener (GLP, previously), Felix Gutzwiller (FDP, previously) and Christoph Blocher (SVP, new).
It was not objectionable that the Tages-Anzeiger limited its coverage to Diener, Gutzwiller and Blocher - the three candidates who had "at least a rudimentary realistic chance of election," the press council said in a statement Tuesday. It is true that the media are obliged to grant small parties and political minorities a "minimum of media attention". However, this does not necessarily apply to individual candidates without a social group behind them.
The Tages-Anzeiger had therefore not violated the declaration of journalists' duties and rights, as the complainant claimed. Stadelmann had also filed a similar complaint against the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The Press Council did not act on either complaint. (SDA)
