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A young journalist spent two months with Crown deniers from French-speaking Switzerland. After his revelations, he was insulted and racially insulted.
“Freedom instead of coercion for Switzerland and the world”: an opponent of the measures of the Swiss Crown at a rally in Berlin.
Photo: Annette Riedl (Keystone / DPA)
A report by online portal Heidi.news on conspiracy theorist circles in French-speaking Switzerland sparked a wave of angry comments on the Internet. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) “strongly condemns the racist insults” directed directly at the journalist who investigated and covertly wrote the story.
“These reactions are a reminder that Switzerland is not immune to racism and hatred of journalists,” the Swiss section of the NGO said in a statement on Tuesday. The comments made by some netizens on social media are “deeply shocking.”
Heidi.news is considering filing a criminal complaint, as editor-in-chief Serge Michel told the Keystone-SDA news agency. So far, only two of the seven parts of the investigation are titled “In the heart of the complosphere” (In the center of the conspiracy) has been published. The television host Léman Bleu, who had participated in this investigation, also published a report on the subject.
Grouping of infiltrators
Journalist Sami Zaïbi led the investigation. For two months, he infiltrated a group of alleged conspiracy theorists who had launched the referendum against the Corona warning app in particular. The Genevan from Tunisia joined the team that produces videos for a web channel whose goal is to provide “survival advice for this damned world.”
Zaïbi expected this ‘avalanche of insults’, as he put it when asked. He said he was willing to take on the journalistic challenge for the public interest in this issue and in the people who circulate in these circles. “In the middle of a health crisis, his theories are dangerous because people die,” said the journalist.
Teacher protests
Among those named in the report, a teacher who is currently on sabbatical protests against the undercover Heidi.news report and denounces “lies intended to harm her.” She plans to press defamation and personal battery charges.
Editor-in-chief Michel justifies the undercover investigation. The purpose of this method in this particular case was to obtain information of public interest that could not have been obtained by any other means.
Not in the classroom
After journalists learned that several teachers were part of so-called conspiracy-herotic circles, Heidi.news submitted an application to the Department of Education in Geneva. The department did not comment on the personal files of its employees, it said Tuesday at the request of Keystone-SDA.
However, it is clear that statements in the sense of conspiracy theories would not be tolerated in the classroom. As for public statements, freedom of expression is guaranteed by the federal constitution, he said. Public officials may be restricted based on their role, context, or term content.
