Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) reacts to journalist Pascal Schmitz’s earlier Facebook posts by temporarily removing him from the screen.
Pascal Schmitz, the journalist who exposed the Covid incident involving national ice hockey coach Patrick Fischer, has been temporarily dismissed from the Swiss public broadcaster SRF. According to several media sources, Schmitz will no longer be hosting “Schweiz aktuell” until further notice. When he will return to television is “still undecided”.
Schmitz faced criticism following the disclosures regarding the fraudulent Covid certificate, which were discovered through old Facebook posts.
The “Weltwoche” magazine discovered 15-year-old writings in which he made derogatory and racial comments. Schmitz later resigned as the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers’ stadium announcer.
“SRF is in constant communication with Pascal Schmitz and is reviewing the situation and recent claims. SRF will not offer any more information due to personnel concerns, according to the broadcaster.
According to the station, the statements did not reflect its beliefs or editorial rules. Schmitz has publicly apologised and stated that he has never done anything wrong since starting at SRF. “He posted these posts on his own Facebook profile over 15 years ago, before joining SRF, and has since deleted them on his own. Pascal Schmitz hasn’t posted on Facebook since joining SRF.
The tale started with a surprising video from national ice hockey coach Patrick Fischer: The 50-year-old shockingly acknowledged a week ago to obtaining a fraudulent Covid certificate for the Olympic Games in Beijing. Shortly later, it was revealed that he had planned to preempt a related piece by SRF (Swiss Radio and Television).
Fischer told Pascal Schmitz this during lunch while recording a profile for SRF in preparation for the home World Championship. The journalist then looked into the punishment order and approached the hockey coach about it. Fischer was eventually fired.
Schmitz argued that he had not breached any off-the-record agreements, but he was swiftly accused of doing so. “This was not my aim. “It was my job,” he informed the reporters. The “Weltwoche” then called him “the nation’s snitch” and released his earlier Facebook posts.
