Press Council reprimands Blick for violation of privacy

A reader and a reader had complained that the July 8, 2020 article titled "Because of her, 280 people had to go into quarantine" pilloried the young woman and made her identifiable, the Press Council said Friday.

The Press Council found, View had violated the woman's privacy with the accumulation of personal details, a portrait photo and the picture of the part of the house where the woman lives. The editorial office had violated the journalist code, although View added a bar to the portrait and changed the name.

Nevertheless, the young woman was identifiable by the accumulation of the information for people who did not belong to the family, the social or professional environment of the woman, judged the Press Council.

In the specific case a private person

According to the Journalists' Code, journalists are obliged to respect the privacy of individuals unless the public interest demands otherwise. In the specific case, the woman had been a private person who had neither appeared in public nor sought public attention in any form.

The View took the view that the young woman was not recognizable to the average reader because of the black bar: Also the age indication had not been sufficient for an identification. The fact that she worked in the care sector was so unspecific that it was not possible to draw any conclusions about her profession or place of work. In addition, the name of the young woman had been changed.

The young woman, although infected with the coronavirus and isolated at home, had gone out partying. In the meantime, she was sentenced to a fine of 1,500 Swiss francs and to pay the procedural costs of 400 Swiss francs. (SDA)