Right of reply
The right of reply lets someone named in a report have their own version published. A legal right in Switzerland and France, absent in other jurisdictions.
The right of reply lets a person directly implicated by an outlet have their own account of the facts published, in the same medium and with comparable prominence. It is neither a favour nor a goodwill gesture: where it exists, it is enforceable in court.
A right that depends on the country
Switzerland provides for it in its Civil Code (art. 28g ff.): anyone whose personality is affected by a periodical medium's presentation of facts may demand a reply. France has an equivalent right in its own press law. The United States, by contrast, has no general right of reply enforceable against the press, an obligation to publish being held incompatible with the First Amendment. The precise contours — deadlines, length, grounds for refusal — differ from one national law to another.
The common misunderstanding: the right of reply bears on facts, not on opinions or tone. It does not let you demand an outlet change its analysis, only that your version sit alongside theirs.
Related reading
- Fact checkingGlossary
Fact checking means testing a public claim against verifiable sources. Its two forms, its method, and the questions it cannot settle.
- Editorial lineGlossary
The editorial line is the set of choices defining what an outlet covers, how, and for whom. What it is, and what it is not.
- BylineGlossary
The byline is the line naming who wrote a piece. What it commits, what its variants reveal, and why its absence is a signal.
- What is a media outlet?Guides
A media outlet isn't just a website or a paper: it's an organisation that gathers, checks, ranks and publishes. The definition, the functions and the limits of the word.
- How does a newsroom work?Guides
News conference, desks, subbing, deadline: the path a story takes from the first alert through to publication, and exactly who decides what at each step of the chain.
- What is a newspaper?Guides
Periodicity, front-page hierarchy, separation of fact and opinion: what defines a newspaper lies in its organisation, not in its paper. Here's how it works.