UBI upholds complaint against Instagram post by SRF News
SRF News has violated the principle of objectivity with an Instagram post on gender-appropriate spelling. This is the finding of the Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television (UBI) following a public consultation. It has approved one complaint.
This is the first time an Instagram post has been the subject of a complaint, the UBI wrote on Thursday's decision. "It is accessible: We are now gendering with a colon," SRF News posted about an image on April 14, 2021.
In the commentary, SRF provided information on the reasons for the change from the gender asterisk to the colon on its socia media channels. Reference was made to the Society for the German Language (GfdS), as the UBI wrote. The GfdS acknowledges "this pragmatic use of the abbreviated form by all means," SRF was told.
One complainant claimed that this advice legitimizing the change was wrong. According to the UBI, the submission was justified, because the GfdS advises against variants that do not correspond to German spelling. The editor should have known this at the time of publication, according to the UBI.
In their words, the inaccurate reference "significantly impaired the formation of users' opinions on the publication". On the grounds that the requirement of objectivity had been violated, the UBI approved the complaint by seven votes to two.
The UBI has been in existence since 1984 and is an extra-parliamentary commission of the federal government. On complaint, it must determine whether the content of radio and television broadcasts by Swiss broadcasters, as well as the rest of the SRG's offering, has violated provisions on the content of editorial publications. Decisions of the UBI can be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court. (SDA)
