Press Council reprimands Das Magazin
In an article about parents who are disowned by their children, the magazine violated the Journalists' Code of Ethics. This is the conclusion reached by the Press Council. The names of a daughter and her mother had not been changed in the text—according to the author, this was done inadvertently.
The article titled "I'm off then" was about adult children who disown their parents. In one of two examples, the report gave the mother's first name and surname, the names of the two children, the daughter's place of origin and field of study, and her age. The daughter filed a complaint with the Press Council five months later, claiming that the mention of the details made her identifiable, violated her privacy and damaged her reputation. The Press Council approved the complaint, as it announced on Tuesday.
Motion to disregard
The Tamedia legal service, which represented Das Magazin, had applied for the case to be dismissed. The name had been published unchanged by mistake. The author had apologized to the daughter in writing immediately after publication, and the editorial team had deleted the complainant's name from the archive and corrected it in the online version. Furthermore, the Tamedia legal service was of the opinion that no conclusions could be drawn about the complainant from the mention of her name, because the name was widely used. The other details only allowed conclusions to be drawn by third parties belonging to the family, social or professional environment.Normally, the Press Council does not intervene in complaints "if the editorial office concerned has already publicly apologized and or taken corrective measures in a matter of minor relevance".
Incomplete correction
The Press Council Presidium, which dealt with the complaint, nevertheless accepted it. It justified its decision by stating that the written apology provided by "Das Magazin" had not been submitted despite a request to do so. In the online version, "Das Magazin" had also only changed the first name of the complainant. All other information - including the first and last name of the mother - had remained unchanged. The original article was also stored in the Swiss media database. The magazine had neither publicly apologized for the error, nor did the corrective measures appear sufficient, which is why the Press Council took up the complaint and ultimately approved it. Point 7 of the Declaration of the Duties and Rights of Journalists obliges media professionals to respect the privacy of the individual, unless the public interest demands otherwise. (SDA)
