Press Council reprimands Blick and Blick Online
Blick and Blick Online have violated the privacy of a boy who was run over by a mowing machine by ex-ski racer Paul Accola. This was stated by the Press Council in a decision published on Tuesday.
The incident dates back to the summer. At that time, Accola, now an entrepreneur, was driving a mowing machine in a meadow in Davos Platz, GR. While reversing, the vehicle hit an eight-year-old boy, who died a short time later in hospital.
Blick and Blick Online reported extensively on the accident and the subsequent events. They first showed a pixelated and later an unpixelated picture of the boy, a photo of the accident site, the tenant of the meadow and the school president of Davos in words and pictures. In addition, both media mentioned the first name of the victim, which is easily identifiable because of its rarity. When reporting on the funeral service, they published a photo of the mourning family, which is individually recognizable.
Victim image downloaded from the Internet
A complainant claiming to be a friend of the victim's family took the matter to the Press Council. The ethics body partially rejected his complaint. It was permissible to publish a picture of the accident site and to interview the school president.
On other points, however, the Council upheld the complaint. For example, Blick and Blick Online were not allowed to report identifiably on the boy who was killed without obtaining the express consent of the persons concerned. According to the complainant, the picture of the boy came from the website of a sports event sponsor. The photo of the funeral service was also unacceptable, as the two media outlets visibly highlighted the victim's family and other mourners. Accola does not have to put up with being photographed against his will at a private funeral service, even though he is a public figure.
Furthermore, the coverage of the tenant was inadmissible, since he, like the victim's family, is not a public figure. Finally, the editors should have left the bereaved family alone immediately after the accident, as Accola had expressly requested. The two media refrained from making statements to the Press Council. The publishing company, Ringier-Verlag (SDA), also did so on Tuesday.
Teaser image: Screenshot Blick.ch
