In the 2021 report prepared by Media Freedom Rapid Response, it is stated that 119 attacks took place against press freedom in Germany. 223 people were affected by these attacks. The German government should immediately implement security measures against journalists in concrete terms.
For almost exactly two years now, people in Germany have regularly taken to the streets to protest against what they believe to be unjustified restrictions on their basic rights in the Corona pandemic. Yet this is precisely what they themselves are doing: restricting fundamental rights, namely the freedom of the press guaranteed in Article 5 of the German Basic Law.
In its annual report, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) project recorded 119 attacks on press freedom in Germany in 2021, affecting a total of 223 people. By comparison, in 2020 there were 72. These attacks include physical attacks at demonstrations as well as online agitation and intimidation lawsuits. By far the largest proportion, however, occurred in connection with anti-Corona protests. Last December alone, a demonstrator in Flensburg attacked a freelance photojournalist with pepper spray; a freelance photojournalist at an anti-Corona protest in Munich was attacked by a police officer with a baton; three journalists at a Corona deniers protest in Saxony were attacked and beaten by a group of hooligans; a female journalist and a male journalist were beaten and kicked while lying on the ground by members of the neo-Nazi youth group “Division Mol” during an unauthorized Querdenker march in Berlin; both suffered minor injuries; a freelance journalist was punched in the face by demonstration participants on two consecutive days, first in Berlin and then in Munich. “There is now not a single demonstration surrounding the Corona protests where I am not attacked,” a freelance photographer told MFRR.
On the other hand, a freelance journalist from Thur- ingia recently told me: “From the beginning, I have ob- served and documented the Querdenker*innen protests and also researched connections to right-wing and far-right networks. Then, a few months ago, I had to stop this work because it became too dangerous for me.” What was a disturbing prospect a year ago has now become reality: More and more frequently, media professionals are forced to cancel their coverage of anti-Corona protests due to assaults, or stay away from such marches in the first place out of fear for their safety. We are therefore faced with the real problem that blind spots in public perception arise precisely where our democratic values and principles are questioned and fought against by aggressive means. The Corona demonstrations are hotbeds of a dangerous new extremism, behind which there is no ideology but a fundamental rejection of our free democratic basic order. Media professionals must make these efforts visible to the public and classify them so that civil society and politics can defend themselves against them. We must therefore defend freedom of the press. But how?
She was afraid to go to a “ Querdenker”-protest in order to report from there, but her employer demanded this of her without making her offers to support her at the same time, the cry for help from a reporter from a public broadcaster reached us as dju in ver.di some time ago. This is one of the reasons why we, together with Reporters Without Borders, the New German Media Makers and the Association of Counseling Centers for Victims of Right- Wing, Racist and Anti-Semitic Violence, went public with a protection code for media companies in April of last year. At that time, the “Frankfurter Rundschau,” the “dpa,” “Zeit” and “Zeit Online,” the “taz” and the “Spiegel” had already declared their intention to implement the code in their houses. In the meantime, Südwestdeutsche Media holding, to which the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” belongs, the Funke Media-Group and the Weser-Kurier, the first regional newspaper, have also joined. Media companies that sign up to the code assure their employees, both permanent and freelance, of protection and support in the event of attacks and threats. Those who feel uncomfortable reporting on a demonstration alone are provided with personal protection by their employer, and those who need help coming to terms with an attack receive external psychological support. The code of protection also includes (financial) assistance with relocations, for example, if the private addresses of media professionals have fallen into the wrong hands. In addition, the media companies appoint contact persons who support affected journalists in sifting through hate messages, checking them for criminal relevance and then, if necessary, reporting them to the police.
Because yes, this is also part of the whole evil: Not only at demonstrations, but also on the Internet, the tone has become even tougher. The attacks at protests are symptomatic of rampant hostility toward the media in this country, which is being unleashed ever more loudly and unrestrainedly against journalists. We are facing a problem for society as a whole that also requires political solutions. The announcement by the governing parties in their coalition agreement that they want to commit themselves to the safety of journalists urgently needs to be translated into concrete plans. A good start would be a round table of interior ministries, police forces, journalists’ organizations and public prosecutors.
It is important that we act now, because it is five past twelve. This applies just as much to freedom of the press as the RKI head Lothar Wieler postulated last fall regarding the pandemic.
MONIQUE HOFMANN
In 2014, she was the director of the ‘Europäische Burgerinitiative für Medienvielfalt’ (European People’s Initiative for media diversity). In 2015, he started to work in the media sector at Ver.di as the person responsible for communication and public relations. Hofmann, who has been the director of the Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalisten-Union (German Journalists’ Union) at ver.di since Novem- ber 2020, represents the rights of all journalists organized in the ver.di union. She organizes workshops for press workers and provides legal support. As the DJU manager she is also responsible for the press cards. Since 2016, she has been working as a freelance journal- ist on media issues for the media magazine “Menschen Machen Medien”.