SRF report on Malters case went in the direction of thesis journalism, according to ombudsman

The SRF program "Schweiz aktuell" broadcast the report entitled "Malters case: police psychologist warned in vain" in the run-up to the trial before the first instance on 12 June 2017. At that time, there was only an indictment, but no acquittal. Among other things, the TV report quoted from a non-public interrogation protocol. The two accused police officers Adi Achermann and Daniel Bussmann found that this made statements to their disadvantage. Together with the responsible government councillor Paul Winiker, they turned to the SRG ombudsman.

In their complaint, they argued that the broadcast had violated the principle of fairness under the Federal Act on Radio and Television (RTVA) in "several respects", as the Lucerne State Chancellery announced on Wednesday.

Contribution "with a twist"

SRG ombudsman Roger Blum now states in his recently published final report that the report was given a "spin in favor of the psychologist's statements". This was also emphasized in editorial tweets, and according to Blum, neither the statements of an expert nor the excerpt from an earlier interview with Adi Achermann could change anything.

The editorial team should also have been more skeptical of the son's lawyer, as he was the starting point of the whole affair with his weapons and drugs, writes Blum.

According to Blum, the report was "not factual" in this respect, but rather went in the direction of thesis journalism, which is "actually strictly rejected" by SRF radio and television. On this point, he could support the complaint.

But not on the other points. The report made it clear that the presumption of innocence applies, writes the ombudsman. In addition, the report conveyed the different assessments of the situation by the incident commander and the psychologist and recapitulated what went wrong during the operation.

The report was faced with the question of how it could incorporate the position of the defendants, as they refused to be interviewed. The SRG ombudsman found it "entirely appropriate" that the editorial team resolved this with an earlier interview with the police commander and by calling in a police expert.

Son moves case on

In March 2016, a 65-year-old woman barricaded herself in her son's apartment in Malters LU for 17 hours during a police operation and used armed force to defend herself against the removal of a cannabis plant belonging to her son. The police finally stormed the apartment. They found the woman lifeless in the bathroom. She had shot herself.

The son of the deceased, who was in custody at the time, filed charges against the police chief for abuse of authority and involuntary manslaughter. He accused them of having acted disproportionately in the incident.

In June of this year, the Kriens District Court acquitted the Lucerne police chiefs of guilt and punishment. The pensioner's son is appealing the verdict. (SDA)