Thread: Top German Journalist Admits Live On Air National News Agenda Set By Government

Top German Journalist Admits Live On Air National News Agenda Set By Government

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by OLIVER JJ LANE
2 Feb 2016

A retired media boss at a major German state broadcaster has admitted his network and others take orders from the government on what — and what not — to report.

National public service broadcaster Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), which was recently forced into a humiliating apology for their silence on migrant violence and sex assault is being drawn into a fresh scandal after one of their former bureau chiefs admitted the company takes orders from the government on what it reports. He said journalists received instructions to write news that would be “to Ms. Merkel’s liking”.

Former head of ZDF Bonn Dr. Wolfgang Herles make the remarks during a radio event (from minute 27) in Berlin where journalists discussed the media landscape. Moving on to the freedom of the press, the panel chair asked Dr. Herles whether things in Germany had got “seriously out of whack”. With an honesty perhaps unusual in Germany, Dr. Herles replied that ordinary Germans were totally losing faith in the media, something he called a “scandal”. He said:

“We have the problem that – now I’m mainly talking about the public [state] media – we have a closeness to the government.

Not only because commentary is mainly in line with the grand coalition (CSU, CDU, and SPD), with the spectrum of opinion, but also because we are completely taken in by the agenda laid down by the political class”.

Worse than the mainstream, government controlled and poll-tax funded media in Germany just agreeing with the ruling coalition, the stations actually took orders on what was and was not to be reported on. He said:

“…the topics about which are reported are laid down by the government.

“There are many topics that would be more important than what the government wants. But they, of course, want to deflect attention away from what doesn’t happen. Yet what doesn’t happen is often more important than what does happen – more important than gesture politics”.

While these orders are sent to media companies from unspecified places in the government, they are communicated to individual journalists by news executives using a new-speak jargon. Dr. Herles explains that while “there are, in fact, instructions from above”, when the editor in chief of ZDF communicated these instructions to his juniors he would merely say reporting should be framed in a way that “serves Europe and the public good”.

There would be no need to add in brackets that this actually means it should be reported “to Ms. Merkel’s liking”, as they would be understood as the true meaning.

“Today, one is not allowed to say anything negative about the refugees” said Dr. Herles, concluding: “This is government journalism and that leads to a situation in which people no longer trust us. This is a scandal.”

There has been very little reporting of the comments in the German media, and what there was has been critical of the remarks. Focus reported the comments of one centre-left media figure, Der Freitag newspaper editor Jakob Augstein who when asked whether there had ever been such “instructions from above”, said: “No, I deny vehemently there has ever been commands from the top”.

That the German mainstream media is not free and routinely obscures or bends the truth has been a key criticism by the Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of Europe (PEGIDA) movement, which has coined phrases like Lügenpresse — the liar press — to express their frustration.
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016...by-government/

This sounds just like the American media where they conceal illegal alien crimes of violence and rape and only print things and sources that their socialists politician counterparts like Obama and the Clintons want!

W

Wolfgang Herles claims says German media 'can't report on sex attack outcry'

A former news boss claims the media takes its orders from the government

Wolfgang Herles said reporters are told to write news to 'Ms Merkel's liking'

He described German media's closeness to the government as a 'scandal'

The country's media has been pilloried for failing to report Cologne attacks

Mainstream media ignored the incident until several days after it occurred

A former news boss in Germany has claimed the country's media is told what to report on by Chancellor Angela Merkel's government.

His admission comes as the country grapples with accusations media ignored hundreds of sex attacks committed by migrants during Cologne's New Year celebrations.

Dr Wolfgang Herles, the former head of a public broadcaster Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), said journalists are instructed to write news reports that are to 'Ms Merkel's liking'.

Dr Herles labelled the situation a 'scandal' during a radio panel discussion on media and freedom of the press, Breitbart reported.

Asked if the media landscape had 'got out of whack', he replied: 'Today, one is not allowed to say anything negative about the refugees.

He elaborated by saying the topics that should be reported on are 'laid down by the government', with instructions passed down to news executives that they should frame issues in a way that is for the 'public good' of Europe.

'We have the problem that... we have a closeness to the government.

'Not only because commentary is mainly in line with the grand [elected political] coalition, with the spectrum of opinion, but also because we are completely taken in by the agenda laid down by the political class.'

German media is grappling with a disillusionment stemming from its delays in reporting the migrant sex attacks in Cologne.

Many news outlets were accused of avoiding publicising what occurred due to concerns it would stoke anti-immigrant fears and fuel the far-right agenda.

ZDF even issued an apology for its delays in reporting on the hundreds of sexual assaults, amid accusations of media self-censorship of the inflammatory issue.

The rash of sex attacks and thefts in a New Year's Eve crowd in the western city of Cologne saw woman being forced to walk a 'gauntlet' through packs of drunk and aggressive men.

Many described being groped and touched while their possessions were stolen and police reports showed authorities were overwhelmed by the chaos taking place at the city centre.

The attacks were only widely covered by national media several days into January after police had initially reported no major incidents.

News editors of ZDF's flagship 'heute' [today] evening news programme later apologised on social media for not reporting on the incidents in its Monday evening bulletin, four days after the attacks.

'The news situation was clear enough. It was a mistake of the 7pm "heute" show not to at least report the incidents,' wrote deputy chief editor Elmar Thevessen on the show's Facebook page.

Editors had decided to postpone the news segment to Tuesday, the day Cologne's city hall and police held a crisis meeting on the attacks, he wrote, admitting this was 'a clear misjudgement'.

Furious right-wing commentators have blamed the attacks on Chancellor Angela Merkel's government and its welcome to asylum seekers, 1.1 million of whom arrived last year.

A media industry website said that the ugly incidents - and the sluggish official and media response - played into the hands of groups such as the Islamophobic PEGIDA street movement, which claims Germany's politicians and media are colluding to mislead the public about immigration policy.

Wolfgang Herles claims says German media 'can't report on sex attack outcry'

And we get next to nothing @ EU happenings in USA media re the horrendous problems caused by so called "refugees from syria" muslims.