“Tagesschau” wrongly criticized car dealers according to the Press Council
Published: Wednesday, Mar 6th 2024, 10:30
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In the opinion of the Press Council, Swiss television channel SRF's "Tagesschau" has wrongly pilloried car dealers. The Press Council announced on Wednesday that this violated the duty of truth of the "Declaration and Duties and Rights of Journalists".
The news report was broadcast on May 4, 2023 and was entitled "Car dealers in Switzerland circumvent exhaust gas penalty fees". The topic of the report was CO2 emissions from road traffic and in particular the penalty fees for vehicles with high CO2 emissions. The report was based on an investigation by the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO).
In the "Tagesschau" report, the term "circumvention" used in combination with the term "trick" would lead the average viewer to assume that Swiss car dealers and importers had exploited who knows what legal loophole in order to gain advantages that the legislator had not actually intended and did not want. This impression is reinforced by the statement in the report that "because of this completely legal trick, according to the Audit Office, the federal government lost out on over 100 million francs in penalties every year", according to the Press Council.
However, this impression is not correct and does not correspond to the truth. The described method of importing vehicles is an option that is expressly provided for by law. In the opinion of the Press Council, the editors of "Tagesschau" have turned the SFAO's criticism of the legislation to reduce CO2 emissions into an unjustified accusation against car dealers of circumventing the relevant regulations.
Swiss Television had unsuccessfully postulated the rejection of the complaint. For SRF, all data and statements contained in the journalistic report are based on the SFAO's investigation or on the information and statements it provided to the editorial team.
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