Swiss Press Council in demand as never before
The Swiss Press Council was once again in high demand last year. A total of 95 complaints were received, and 78 statements were published. The most common complaints concerned violations of privacy and failure to hear the other side.
Never before has the Press Council published so many statements as in 2012, according to the annual report published on Thursday. Press Council President Dominique von Burg attributes this to the greater visibility and transparency of his body, as he told the media.
Last year, media reports most frequently intruded into the private lives of those affected. In addition, persons were often misidentified and or a person's privacy was violated with a report, according to the annual report. "It is also not new that media often fail to hear out those affected before publishing a serious allegation," von Burg said. Time and again, important information is also suppressed or false facts are spread, he added.
Comply with reprint obligation
In the future, the Press Council wants to pay attention to the obligation to print. Since, unfortunately, not all editorial offices comply with this obligation, they will in future list in their annual report the cases in which this obligation has been violated, said von Burg. "We consider this a duty". In 2012, media failed seven times to report on an opinion in which they were reprimanded by the Press Council. In eight other complaints, media did not report on the Press Council's decision, which was positive for them. "In these cases, too, a brief summary would be desirable," von Burg said. (SDA)
