SRG ombudsman reprimands program about Valais winegrowers with AOC fraud
The SRG Ombudsman’s Office has reprimanded a program aired by SRF, the German-Swiss television station. Because the incorrect term «Fusel» was used in the title, the audience was misled in forming its opinion. The report thus violated the requirement of accuracy under the Radio and Television Act.
In the report on the SRF program "Schweiz Aktuell", wine was referred to as "fusel" in connection with the court hearing about a Valais winegrower. There was also talk of "panning". The winemaker had mixed various wines together and sold them under the Valais AOC quality label. Following the report, the SRG ombudsman's office had to check the admissibility of the terms used.
The ombudsman's office received two complaints, both of which took issue with specific terms used in the report, as reported in the SRF newsletter on Wednesday. The first complaint criticized the fact that the report referred to the wine being "panned". Because, he writes, this refers to the addition of water, which the accused wine merchant did not do.
The second complaint concerned the term "fusel". This term was used to refer not only to the added Spanish wine but also to the Schaffhausen wine that was also used. The collective term "Fusel" was used to portray the Schaffhausen product as inferior. This is wrong and damaging to business.
The ombudsman's office only supported one of the complaints in this discussion about terminology. The ombudsman's office does not accept the criticism of the use of the word "Panschen" because - as correctly explained by the editors - the definition goes beyond mixing with water. The fraud charged could therefore very well be described by the term "panning".
The case is different with the term "fusel". From a technical point of view, this is alcohol that still contains undesirable substances and residues. This is not the case here. Only colloquially does "fusel" also describe an inferior wine. However, as the fraud with the AOC label was the focus of the report, a technically correct and not a colloquial explanation could be expected from SRF. (SDA/swi)
