"Advertising" for Junge Tat Over 50 complaints against SRF program about right-wing extremist group

The "Rec" program about the far-right "Junge Tat" brings dozens of complaints to the ombudsman's office. It must now examine whether SRF reported too favorably on the violent organization.

At the end of March, SRF broadcast a report on the right-wing extremist group "Junge Tat". In it, a reporter accompanies members of the organization during propaganda campaigns. These are described as "spectacular", among other things.

However, the classification of the group's content remains brief: an SRF specialist editor speaks of "outright racism" in the report. However, detailed information on the group's ideology is largely missing.

The broadcast particularly pleases supporters of the group. In online comments, they express surprise at what they see as the positive portrayal and the wide reach of the report. One activist writes: "At last my compulsory fees are being used to produce something useful."

53 complaints by the halfway point of the complaint period

The fact that a broadcaster financed by license fees portrays a controversial group in this way has resulted in numerous complaints. By Thursday morning, the ombudsman's office had received 53 complaints about the program, as blue News explains at the request of blue News. The official deadline for complaints ends on April 13. Only then will the final number be known.

The complainants also include people from the cultural and media sector. In a public letter, they criticize SRF for trivializing the group - for example as a "friendly hiking group" or as "patriotic, heroic young adults".

They also accuse the reporter of not clearly distancing himself from the group during the report. The specific reason: during the film, the SRF reporter was "unable to answer clearly" whether he was on the "wrong side".

For context: members of "Junge Tat" have been convicted several times for criminal offenses. According to "Sonntagsblick", the criminal record includes racial discrimination, coercion, damage to property, eavesdropping and recording other people's conversations, disturbing freedom of religion and worship, breach of the peace, offenses against the Explosives Act, obstruction of an official act and illegal masking.

The complaints are aimed at SRF's journalistic guidelines. These call for particular care in tone and style when dealing with "politically controversial topics". They also point out that political actors are increasingly generating attention with deliberately staged campaigns - a fact that should be taken into account in journalistic terms.

Former SRG auditor finds reportage "successful"

SRF, which as a public broadcaster must adhere to legal "minimum requirements" for content, has commented on the report in recent days. Anita Richner, responsible for the program, explained SRF's role to "20 Minuten", for example: The mission is to "show different perspectives, question them and put them up for discussion". However, SRF "cannot influence" how this is received by the audience.

On Monday, SRF published a second video in which communications researcher Vincenz Wyss rated the original report as "successful". Between 2020 and 2023, Wyss was commissioned by SRF's parent company SRG SSR as an external auditor to examine how well SRF's internal quality mechanisms work. His team recently gave SRF a very good report card.

Whether the ombudsman's office comes to a similar conclusion will become clear at the beginning of May. The two ombudsmen Esther Girsberger and Urs Hoffmann will then have to send their final report to the complainants and publish it. Girsberger is a former journalist, Hofmann a former SP member of the cantonal government of Aargau.

In the meantime, the two ombudsmen will not be able to reach a final verdict. Anyone who disagrees with the ombudsman's assessment can appeal to the Independent Complaints Authority for Radio and Television (UBI). Decisions by the UBI can in turn be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.