Press Council reprimands St. Galler Tagblatt because advertising was not recognizable
The Swiss Press Council has once again addressed the question of whether paid content was clearly recognizable to readers. In the case of the St. Galler Tagblatt, the answer is no.
Specifically, it was about an almost full-page interview with the country head of an auditing firm under the title "Four-eye conversation is irreplaceable", which appeared in the St. Galler Tagblatt had been published (Online: Luzernerzeitung.ch). At the end of the interview was the note "This interview was conducted on behalf of EY Switzerland".
Since the differences in layout were small compared to the editorial content, it was not clearly evident to average readers that they were dealing with commercial content. Because the design of the advertisement hardly stood out from the editorial section, it would have required an explicit declaration as advertising. According to the Press Council, however, this was not the case.
The latter therefore decided that the St. Galler Tagblatt violated the requirement to separate editorial content from advertising. Since its leading decision 67/2019, the Press Council has adopted several statements on this topic. It again clearly states that the average reader must recognize at first glance that he is looking at advertising.
