Press Council reprimands discriminatory crime reporting

The Press Council approves complaints against "20 Minuten" and "Freiburger Nachrichten". In October, "20 Minuten" published a short report on a police operation against drug dealers: "Among those arrested are 28 black Africans, two Swiss, two Vietnamese and one Italian." In November, the "Freiburger Nachrichten" reported on a criminal case against an unnamed "30-year-old black African". The association CRAN (Carrefour de réflexion et d'action contre le racisme anti-noir en Suisse) complained to the Press Council about these reports, which were likely to expose dark-skinned Africans to the worst prejudices. Both editorial offices admitted in statements that they had not taken sufficient account of the problem of discrimination when formulating the texts, but rejected the accusation of latent racism. In its statement on Tuesday, the Press Council upheld both complaints. The unnecessary generalization of the accused as "black Africans" in the criminal reporting was likely to promote prejudices against dark-skinned people and thus at least latently discriminate against them. In its statement, the Press Council points out that crime reporting should avoid even latently discriminatory generalizations, which requires careful consideration in the choice of terms in individual cases. In the case of "Freiburger Nachrichten", it would have been possible to mention the nationality; in the case of "20 Minuten", the term "Afrikaner" would have satisfied the need for information.