Press Council reprimands school project text in the “Freiburger Nachrichten”
Published: Friday, Nov 29th 2024, 17:20
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The Press Council has reprimanded a text in the "Freiburger Nachrichten" and partially upheld a complaint. The separation of editorial content and advertising had not been observed. The objectionable text was part of a school project on media literacy.
With the text "The future of the dairy industry" from November 14, 2023, the "Freiburger Nachrichten" had violated section 10 (separation of editorial and advertising) of the "Declaration of Duties and Rights of Journalists", the Press Council ruled in its newsletter on Friday. The complaint was rejected with regard to point 11 (journalistic independence).
According to the Press Council, the complainant had claimed that the editorial team had accepted the conditions negotiated by the publisher with the sponsor. The article in question dealt with the future of the dairy industry. There was therefore a clear reference to a sponsor.
Furthermore, the statements of the sponsor's general secretary were adopted without editorial classification. In combination with the image and the logo, the text could be read as a quid pro quo for the sponsorship.
Editorial approach "problematic"
The editorial team's approach remains problematic in this case, writes the Press Council. Responsibility for the publication of editorial articles always lies with the editorial management. The fact that the article was supervised by a "project editor" on a temporary part-time basis does not exonerate the editorial team.
The argument that the pupils should first and foremost "act themselves out" in a newspaper article is also questionable. Precisely because this is a media education project, the editorial team should pay particular attention to professional and critical supervision.
Good thing, but tricky
Media literacy is an important topic in schools, writes Jan Grüebler, Vice President of the Press Council. The "Zeitung in der Schule" project of the "Freiburger Nachrichten" in cooperation with sponsors and schools is a good thing at first glance, but at second glance the project is tricky.
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