UBI rejects Ecopop's complaint against RTS
The Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television (UBI) has rejected a complaint by the Ecopop association against RTS radio and television in French-speaking Switzerland. Ecopop had criticized the reporting in the run-up to the federal elections.
Ecopop complained that the small groups not yet represented in parliament had been disadvantaged. However, in its deliberations, the UBI came to the conclusion that even licensed radio and television broadcasters are not obliged to treat all parties and groups absolutely equally in election broadcasts.
Different treatment of parties based on transparent and non-discriminatory criteria is permitted, the UBI announced on Thursday. In addition, groups not yet represented in parliament, such as Ecopop, had been taken into account by RTS as part of a special broadcast. The UBI therefore rejected the complaint by 8 votes to 1.
Complaint against Radio Top upheld
However, the UBI approved a complaint against a report by Radio Top about the "Veganmania" street festival in Winterthur. In the report, the Young Greens of Zurich criticized the participation of two organizations at the festival that they considered questionable. One representative accused the Verein gegen Tierfabriken Schweiz (VgT) of anti-Semitic and racist tendencies.
As the VgT was unable to comment on this in the article, the UBI considered that the principle of fairness had been violated. The UBI upheld the complaint by 8 votes to 1. The editors of Radio Top have already voluntarily removed the report from the online archive and given the VgT the opportunity to make a counterstatement, as the UBI wrote.
The UBI also approved a complaint against the program "Il Quotidiano" on the Italian-language SRG television station RSI by 6 votes to 3. Here too, a report on the Geneva Motor Show violated the principle of fairness.
Complaints against "Rundschau" rejected
The UBI unanimously rejected complaints against two reports broadcast in May on the SRF program "Rundschau". These concerned a report followed by a studio discussion on speeding legislation and a report on the public accessibility of lakeshores.
"The shortcomings identified concerned secondary points that did not prevent the public from forming a free opinion," writes the UBI. The contributions were appropriate due to the essentially correct facts conveyed and the transparent presentation. (SDA)
