Complaints Report: 2000

WEICHSLER ET AL vs. WESTENDER

A complaint filed against the Westender newspaper by four members of the German-Canadian community in the Vancouver area has been upheld by the British Columbia Press Council following a hearing into the complaint.

The complainants said the column was racist and that its references to German customs, culture and language - the column described German as "one bad-sounding language" and "icky" - stereotyped and denigrated Germany and its people.

The complainants said that had the column been directed at any other ethnic or racial group, it would never have been published, and that its references to Germany and people of German descent were slanderous and represented "character assassination".

Column author Ms. Carlyn Yandle said the column was an opinion piece and that she had used humour and satire to make her points. In the column, she said she had readily identified her own "pre-conditioned" antipathy to some of the things she saw during a trip to Germany, and had noted she was "more than a little ashamed to discover during a holiday in Europe...that I have this nasty thing against things German."

She said she saw the hearing as an opportunity to defend her right to freedom of expression and said the column did not constitute discrimination.

The B.C. Press Council is a self-regulatory body governing the newspaper industry in British Columbia. It was established in 1983 with two main aims: to promote ethical practices within the B.C. newspaper community and serve as a forum for complaints against its members.

Here is the full text of the Press Council's adjudication:

The B.C. Press Council has upheld a complaint filed against the Westender newspaper over the publication of a column by Managing Editor Carlyn Yandle in its October 28 - November 3, 1999 edition, entitled "Those German Stereotypes Are Hard to Shake".

The complainants - Richard Weichsler, Alex Olbertz, Brigitte Wood and A. Erich Jungbauer - in writeen complaints and during the April 6 hearing, said the column encouraged discrimination by denigrating German people.

The Press Council agrees, finding that the column contravened Section 6 of the Council's Code of Practice which states: "Unless the information is directly relevant to the news story or opinion column, newspapers should avoid publishing material which encourages discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, ancestry, gender, religion, marital staus, physical or mental disability, age or sexual orientation."

Ms. Yandle said that the column was intended to reflect on the meaning of Remembrance Day. She also said the column relied on satire and humour. However, the Press Council found its characterization of German people to be offensive.

While the Press Council agrees that columnists should have the widest possible latitude to express strong opinions, it found that Ms. Yandle had perpetuated sterotypes which encouraged discrimination.

The Council noted that the Westender, a Vancouver weekly publication, in subsequent editions did give prominent play to voicemail messages and letters which were critical of the column.

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