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ZDF journalist Andreas Weise in conversation with AfD top candidate Oliver Kirchner: "There is a conservative majority in Saxony-Anhalt"
The relationship between the public broadcasters and the AfD remains difficult.
How do you deal with it when you are supposed to interview a right-wing populist or even a right-wing extremist who is successful in the election, but does not want to leave him the field for the victory frenzy?
On the evening of the election in Saxony-Anhalt, shortly after the first extrapolation, the ZDF demonstrated how not to do it.
ZDF journalist Andreas Weise, studio manager of the institution in Saxony-Anhalt, got the AfD top candidate Oliver Kirchner in front of the microphone for a short, unofficial interview.
He had previously learned that his party would be at 22.5 percent.
Weise asked if Kirchner was disappointed that he hadn't won the election.
The AfD man replied: “No, I'm not disappointed, I've always focused on the fact that the country should and wants to vote conservatively.
And it did.
And I am satisfied with this 22.5 percent, because yes, let me tell you, we couldn't expect any positive surprises either.
We were upset with baiting, we were partly hushed up for five years. "
Instead of critically investigating the accusation of agitation and refuting it, Weise let himself be carried away to majority mind games.
He said: “There is a conservative majority in Saxony-Anhalt.
But nobody would talk to you, the CDU refused. ”In doing so, the journalist took over the terminology of the AfD, with which its politicians try to present themselves as representatives of the center.
(You can watch the video here)
Improvised interview
The party in Saxony-Anhalt is under observation by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and is listed as a suspected right-wing extremist case.
Weise's statement was possibly due to the hectic pace of the situation - the almost one-minute improvised outside interview took place before a later official conversation in the studio.
In the state elections in Saxony in September 2019, a moderator of the MDR had used a similar formulation in connection with the AfD and was therefore criticized.
In an interview with CDU politician Marco Wanderwitz during the election broadcast on Erste, Wiebke Binder said: “A stable two-party coalition, a bourgeois one, would theoretically be possible with the AfD.” At the time, he countered with presence of mind: “A coalition with the AfD would not be bourgeois coalition. ”The MDR later apologized and vowed to be more precise in the choice of words in the future.