Björn Höcke and Mario Voigt faced off in a TV duel in Thuringia. HöCke is the AfD's leading candidate for the state elections in the fall.
The moderators provided the most important moment of the duel. Both can score points for themselves, the moderation shined the most, says IPEN's Hans-Joachim Pfeiffer. The duel noticeably gained momentum over time, says PFeiffer, and the world moderators gave the two politicians enough opportunities for heated debates. The moderation of world TV also contributed to tough confrontations, adds Pfeifen.. In the run-up to the duel, there were questions as to whether the TV duel would break a taboo line. Even the World TV boss previously defended the taboo line, saying that there were no plans for it to be broken in the future. The debate took place on the private broadcaster Welt-TV, which is owned by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.