Press Council censures Basler Zeitung
In an article about the controversial Google Street View, the Basler Zeitung (BAZ) failed to take into account information provided by data protection expert Hanspeter Thür. The Press Council therefore partially upheld a complaint filed by Thür.
Thür lodged his complaint against the BAZ because of the article entitled "Cloudy view of Google's Street View/Criticism of the new online service is increasingly turning into a data protection farce". The topic was possible inconsistencies between Street View and the applicable data protection guidelines, which had long been pointed out by cantonal data protection officers, among others. Thür was accused of behaving strangely passively for a long time. Because the article did not take into account information available from Thür, the Press Council partially upheld a complaint, as the committee announced on Friday.
The BAZ wrote a series of articles on this topic. In one of them, the Association of Swiss Data Protection Officers (Privatim) criticized the anonymization measures taken by Google and Thür's attitude. As Thür was on vacation when this article was published, he requested the opportunity to comment on the allegations upon his return. He suggested that the newspaper publish a clarification he had already written. A few days later, an interview with Thür appeared in the BAZ. And a week later, the accusations of passivity were leveled against Thür, whereupon he first made representations to the editor-in-chief and, after a negative response, to the Press Council.
The Presidium of the Press Council has now partially upheld the complaint. BAZ should have taken available information into account in the article and referred to the denial of the Federal Data Protection Commissioner, which should have been included in the report "in an appropriate manner". However, BAZ had not violated the other guidelines.
The BAZ wrote a series of articles on this topic. In one of them, the Association of Swiss Data Protection Officers (Privatim) criticized the anonymization measures taken by Google and Thür's attitude. As Thür was on vacation when this article was published, he requested the opportunity to comment on the allegations upon his return. He suggested that the newspaper publish a clarification he had already written. A few days later, an interview with Thür appeared in the BAZ. And a week later, the accusations of passivity were leveled against Thür, whereupon he first made representations to the editor-in-chief and, after a negative response, to the Press Council.
The Presidium of the Press Council has now partially upheld the complaint. BAZ should have taken available information into account in the article and referred to the denial of the Federal Data Protection Commissioner, which should have been included in the report "in an appropriate manner". However, BAZ had not violated the other guidelines.
