SRG ombudsman's office: Most complaints about info broadcasts
SRG German-speaking Switzerland's ombudsman, Achille Casanova, presented his 2012 annual report to the Audience Council. Information programs in particular were at the forefront of complaints.
At 150, the number of complaints submitted about Swiss radio and television (SRF) broadcasts fell slightly by 21 compared to 2011. Of the complaints dealt with, 27 percent were judged to be more or less justified. This writes the Obudsstelle of SRG German-speaking Switzerland in a communiqué on Thursday.
The 150 complaints are exactly the average of the past eight years since ombudsman Achille Casanova took office. In an interim assessment of his activities as a "linesman" - as the writer Max Frisch once said to the then UBI President Oskar Reck - Casanova does not note any major fluctuations. The number of complaints as well as the motives of the complaints and the corresponding assessments are relatively constant. This great continuity is difficult to explain, since the programs of radio and television change from year to year, as does the political and social discourse, according to the statement. In addition, it has become much easier to make use of the ombudsman's office: Three quarters of complaints are now submitted by e-mail.
It was not legally possible to formally respond to 45 of the 150 submissions. However, 26 of these were forwarded to the responsible SRF departments for a direct response. Of the 113 cases dealt with substantively, 12 (previous year: 14) concerned radio, 96 (previous year: 101) television and 4 both media. One case was directed against SRF's other journalistic offerings.
"Kassensturz" most frequently complained about
Information programs in particular were at the forefront of complaints. In television, "Kassensturz" leads the table with 19 complaints, followed by "Tagesschau" (14) and "10vor10" (11). On the radio, 5 complaints concerned the news and 2 the "Treffpunkt" program.
Almost half of the submissions (49 percent) criticized a program for being inappropriate or politically tendentious. Just under a quarter felt that the offending programs defamed a person, association or company. One-fifth referred to general objections or technical problems. Two percent of the complaints concerned depictions of violence, and one percent claimed that religious feelings had been hurt.
Ombudsman Achille Casanova and his deputy Sylvia Egli von Matt assessed 27 percent of the complaints as "justified or partially justified". This figure is only slightly above the average of 24.5 percent in previous years. 7 of the complaints judged to be justified concerned the "Kassensturz" broadcast of May 9, 2012 on the managed care referendum bill.
