Journalists with links to the extreme left scene? The CDU politician and ex-constitution protection chief Maaßen raises serious allegations against public service media – and receives opposition.
The Thuringian CDU candidate for the Bundestag and former head of the protection of the constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, has caused violent reactions with allegations against public broadcasting.
The German Association of Journalists demanded “an urgent apology” on Twitter at the weekend. The vice-chairman of the SPD parliamentary group, Katja Mast, suggested that Maaßen agree to the AfD’s tenor. This is “shabby and dangerous”. The vice-leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Konstantin von Notz, spoke of an “attack on freedom of the press”. The NDR rejected Maaßen’s allegations against the “Tagesschau” on Sunday.
Maaßen said on tv.Berlin about political reporting in the public media: “I no longer see the balance of reporting.” There is a “clear left twist”. In the interview published on Thursday, he accused the institutions of “manipulating opinions”, for example by omitting facts and using “tricks”. “I think it is a shame that the supervisory authorities do not really correct this public service broadcaster in this respect and ensure that something like this no longer takes place,” said Maaßen. He brought an “NDR committee of inquiry” into discussion.
The North German Broadcasting Corporation (NDR) is responsible for the “Tagesschau”, he explained. “If you see that there are also connections between the“ Tagesschau ”or between people who work for the public broadcasting service and“ Tagesschau ”and the left and left-wing extremist scene – then it would be really worth investigating that Even the biography of some editors is put to the test to see whether these people have the character trait (…) to accompany the “Tagesschau” through the editors. ” Maaßen was not more specific on this point.
At the weekend Maaßen added on Twitter that extremists and radicals had no place in public broadcasting. «Fee-financed media must report neutrally and not educate. #Constitutionalism instead of #attitude journalism! »
NDR spokeswoman Barbara Jung informed the German Press Agency that the «Tagesschau» had «high standards for objectivity and diligence in reporting». She only follows journalistic criteria when selecting news. “The” Tagesschau “stands for balanced, comprehensible and fact-based journalism.”
The chairman of the regional broadcasting commission, the Rhineland-Palatinate head of government Malu Dreyer (SPD), informed the dpa: “We have a strong, free and pluralistic media landscape in Germany. The allegation of Maaßen is infamous and has only one goal: to shake the credibility in journalism and especially in public broadcasting. ” She spoke of an “attack on freedom of the press, an important pillar of our democracy”.
Maaßen is running for the Bundestag in the election on September 26th in a constituency in southern Thuringia, which also includes the city of Suhl. He is controversial because of his stance on the federal government’s refugee policy, among other things. Politicians from the SPD, the Greens and the Left have repeatedly accused the CDU of fishing with measures on the right.
The CDU chairman in Lower Saxony, Bernd Althusmann, told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”: “Maaßen is emphatically damaging the party with positions that we do not share.” He went on to explain: “If the fundamental values of the party for which he wants to move into the Bundestag mean nothing to Mr. Maassen, he should look for another party. For us, the freedom of the press is and will remain inviolable. ”
SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil linked a critical tweet with the tv.berlin video on Twitter and wrote with a view to the CDU boss and candidate for chancellor: “And Armin Laschet is silent.” The Green politician von Notz announced on Twitter that Laschet and CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak could not help the fact that Maaßen had been put up as a candidate in Thuringia. “But you can do something about keeping silent about these atrocities.”
The former left-wing chairman Bernd Riexinger said via Twitter that Maaßen does not belong in the Bundestag. The media policy spokesman for the FDP in the Bundestag, Thomas Hacker, held against Maassen to question the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of the press. “His unconfirmed statements only encourage conspiracy theories, create uncertainty and generally harm the climate of public debate,” he informed the dpa.
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