Journalists from the political magazine ARD-“Monitor” want to report on the AfD state party conference in Thuringia. The party denies them this. The courts are busy with the case.
The legal dispute between the AfD Thuringia and the ARD political magazine “Monitor” over reporting on the state party conference is becoming increasingly widespread. The AfD had denied the journalists access, but the public broadcaster Westdeutsche Rundfunk (WDR), which is responsible for the magazine, took action. The party conference, which lasted several days, began in the early afternoon in Pfiffelbach, Thuringia. The situation remained unclear.
After the Erfurt regional court initially decided on an interim injunction against the AfD on Thursday and ordered that the “Monitor” journalists must have access, the same court scheduled an oral hearing for Friday afternoon because the AfD had objected. A result was not yet known in the afternoon.
In addition, the Thuringian Constitutional Court also dealt with the case. The AfD Thuringia, which is classified by the state Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Thuringia as definitely right-wing extremist, had turned to the court.
The constitutional judges granted the party’s application for an interim injunction and temporarily suspended the effectiveness of the regional court’s interim injunction. According to the Constitutional Court, the AfD argued that they had not been heard by the regional court before issuing the decree. The Constitutional Court also emphasized in its statement: “The Constitutional Court has not made a decision as to whether and under what conditions the press must be given access to party conferences or can be denied.” The decision cannot be appealed.
AfD: “Clumsy propaganda”
On Wednesday it became known that, unlike other media, the ARD “Monitor” team had been refused permission by the party to report on the state party conference. “Monitor” director Georg Restle criticized the party’s decision as a “revealing oath by a right-wing extremist AfD regional association that shows what the party thinks of critical journalism and freedom of expression in this country.”
The state spokesman for the AfD Thuringia, Stefan Möller, published his reasons for the exclusion of the “Monitor” team on the X platform, formerly Twitter. He emphasized that it was in the party’s interest to report on party conferences. Acceptance ends “when there can no longer be any talk of journalistic reporting at all.” Möller also wrote of “clumsy propaganda”.
The public broadcaster WDR had announced that it was extremely worrying that “a party represented in parliament would deny journalists access to a party conference because it does not agree with the reporting.”
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
