This case would be laughable if it weren't so dismaying. It is a shining example of the weaknesses of a certain type of journalism practised in French-speaking Switzerland. Above all, it proves once again that some journalists abandon all restraint when it comes to bashing and ridiculing Dominique Giroud and his companies. The only problem in this case is that these journalists got it horribly wrong. It all started with an ATS dispatch, scandalously written by someone who understood nothing about a Federal Court ruling. Everything in the report is wrong. And yet the major media in French-speaking Switzerland picked it up without checking a thing, and added to it in order to indulge in one of their favourite activities: rejoicing over the difficulties encountered by Château Constellation, the heir to Giroud Vins SA. Except that the Federal Court's decision in question has nothing to do with Château Constellation, but with another company owned by Dominique Giroud (which is still selling wine, contrary to what was falsely asserted on the RTS website, which makes no bones about it). Dominique Giroud's lawyers then intervened. They went to great lengths to get the editors concerned to correct their mistakes. By way of reparation, all they asked for was an apology, which was of course systematically refused, with the notable exception of ATS, but a day late, even though the damage had already been done...
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