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AfD-Right Wing: Björn Höcke breaks off ZDF interview

2019-09-15T19:55:31.395Z


After about ten minutes, Höcke and his press spokesman wanted to start an interview with the ZDF again because the questions had "greatly emotionalized" him. When the journalist refused to do so, Höcke ended the conversation.



AfD politician Björn Höcke has canceled a TV interview with ZDF. Previously, he and his present spokesman had demanded to start the interview again because Höcke was allegedly not prepared for the questions. The ZDF journalist rejected this requirement as completely unusual, whereupon Höcke and his speaker broke off the discussion after a short discussion.

At the beginning of the conversation, which was broadcast on Sunday evening in the show "Berlin direct", the interviewer had shown the AFD politician short videos in which his colleagues were confronted with extracts from Höcke's book and should guess whether this by Höcke or from Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf". None of them wanted to commit themselves. In one example, the AfD member of parliament Jens Maier replied: "If, rather from 'Mein Kampf' I would say, but not by Mr. Höcke." Höckes reaction: "That says, first of all, that most of my book did not read."

Questions should Höcke "strongly emotionalized" have

Faced with overlaps of his language and the terminology of National Socialism, the AfD-leading candidate for the state election in Thuringia complained about "this permanent recourse to the NS". There is no universal definition of what NS language is, according to Höcke. Time and again, the journalist Höcke asked whether the terms used to him such as "degenerate" and "spoilsport" are just accidentally Nazi vocabulary.

After about ten minutes of conversation, the present AFD spokesman intervened. "You can not do that, you've confronted Mr. Höcke with questions that have deeply emotionalized him, and you should not put those emotions on TV." He demanded to start the conversation from the beginning. "We will not do that again, but you know that, too," answered the ZDF journalist. One comes in "the sensitive area" of the Pressefreiheit, if "I should ask the questions so often, until you are satisfied with the answers."

Höcke announces "massive consequences"

The AfD right wing and his spokesman claimed to have been unprepared for these kinds of questions in advance. However, the ZDF journalist emphasized that he had explicitly announced questions about Höckes language and his understanding of democracy.

When the journalist refused to restart the conversation even after several minutes of discussion, Höcke announced "massive consequences". He lamented that politicians and journalists could no longer trust each other, because one has the feeling that "the journalist is executing a political mission".

It is clear that "there will be no interview with me for you." Höcke hinted that the journalist might regret this in the future. "We do not know what's coming," said Höcke, maybe he'll "also be an interesting personal, political person in this country." Could be. "

DJV chairman calls reaction of the journalist completely correct

The interview was conducted last Wednesday in Erfurt. The ZDF has published the conversation and the dispute over the new beginning of the interview both as a full-length video as well as authored light.

The Federal Chairman of the German Journalists Association, Frank Überall, said in the evening, it was completely correct that the ZDF colleague had not agreed to "soften" the interview in Höcke's sense. "Björn Höcke has opened another dark chapter in the disturbed dealings of the AfD with the freedom of the press in general and critical journalists in particular," criticized Überall.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2019-09-15

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