TV Council: Criticism of the ZDF Election Reporting on AfD

Following the parliamentary elections in Saxony and Brandenburg on 1 September, there were discussions about whether dealing with the AFD in election reporting was appropriate. Particularly criticized was the MDR, which was accused of not having asked critically enough about the AfD politicians.

It was particularly criticized that the MDR presenter Wiebke Binder had called a possible coalition of CDU and AfD as "bourgeois". The MDR apologized on Monday after the broadcast for the wording, in a statement said: "This was clearly a slip of the tongue."

Now, the election reporting on the AfD has obviously caused critical discussions on ZDF. According to "Bild" newspaper to have been criticized on the ZDF television council. The newspaper cited, among others, the CDU politician Franz Josef Jung; the former defense minister criticized that journalists would often not prepare thoroughly for talks with AFD representatives.

In fact, there were also worrying moments in ZDF election coverage. Thus, the AfD chairman Alexander Gauland could claim that the AfD-leading candidate in Brandenburg, Andreas Kalbitz was not right-wing and not in a neo-Nazi march in Greece, as the SPIEGEL had reported. Kalbitz himself later admitted participation.

Editor-in-chief Peter Frey reacted to the allegations for ZDF. He explained to the specialist service epd medien that the broadcaster was aware that the "extremist wing" within the AfD was gaining influence. In public, the party also shows a "nicer interface", which makes interviewing very difficult.

Questioning the party's positions is a task not only for media representatives. In fact, politicians are increasingly rare willing to put on television discussions with AFD representatives. Frey: "Other parties avoid the argument."