Curious scene on the ARD: When the first forecast for the Hamburg election was announced, there was loud cheering in the TV studio. Although there was no audience.
- In the Hamburg elections , the SPD won well ahead of the Greens on Sunday.
- The CDU, FDP and AfD, on the other hand, suffered losses.
- The FDP and AfD even have to worry about becoming citizens.
- Because of the latter party, there was a clear reaction when the first forecast was announced in the ARD studio .
Update of February 25, 2020: Neutrality is actually a strict requirement in the current election reporting for public service broadcasters. It was precisely because of this that an unusual incident caused a sensation on Hamburg's election evening: When the first forecast for the AfD was read out in the ARD studio at around 6 p.m., cheers sounded in the background - at that point the party seemed to be missing out on re-entering Hamburg's citizenship. The scene was criticized by AfD officials as "unprofessional" and "unmasking".
Now the Norddeutsche Rundfunk responsible for the program has taken a position on the incident: According to the NDR, the expressions of joy did not come from employees - but from bystanders in a public area in front of the election studio.
The provisional studio for the election evening was located in the Hamburg exhibition halls and was not a closed room, but was open to the top and to one side, said a NDR spokeswoman on request from the website uebermedien.de . "At the time of the forecast, there were around 50 to 70 spectators, politicians who were waiting for their appearance in election programs, party employees as well as photographers, journalists and political observers."
The spokeswoman also rejected allegations that the AfD was wrongly not represented in the first rounds with top politicians . "In the first place, top candidates are only invited to the interview rounds of the election programs if the parties have reached five percent or more," she said. The invitation criteria are transparent.
Video: provisional official exit - FDP fails in Hamburg
First report: ARD journalist reads forecast for Hamburg election 2020 - suddenly there is loud cheers
Hamburg - WDR program director Jörg Schönenborn read the first forecast * punctually a few seconds after 6:00 p.m. for the ARD special broadcast on the citizens' election in Hamburg . According to the first figures from Infratest Dimap, the Social Democrats took 37.5 percent ahead of the Greens , which according to the first forecast reached 25.5 percent . A clear victory for the red-green coalition in Hamburg and the social democratic mayor Peter Tschentscher * - even if his party lost 8.1 percentage points compared to 2015.
In the sober tone typical of an election program, the journalist also announced the forecasts for the CDU (11.5 percent), the Left (9.0 percent) and the FDP (5.0 percent). The CDU in particular emerged as the big loser of the election, losing 4.4 percentage points compared to the last general election.
Also read: Election scandal in Hamburg? Man wants to cast his vote and encounters bitter hurdles
But when Schönenborn arrived at the forecast for the AfD , a scene occurred that is not known from the ARD studio: The journalist read out: "We currently see the AfD at 4.7 percent ..." and suddenly there was loud cheers and applause in the live studio . Schönenborn continued professionally: "It looks like she is falling out of a state parliament for the first time, but with caution." Particularly unusual about the jubilation: There was no audience in the ARD studio, but his team was working around Jörg Schönenborn ARD colleagues on the screens. Who cheered right here initially remained unclear to the audience.
ARD journalists cheered loudly when the first forecast for the AfD was announced.
© Screenshot ARD.de
Cheers on election program for the Hamburg election 2020: ARD employees send a clear signal
The voters also set a surprisingly clear signal by punishing the AfD, CDU and FDP, who attributed their poor performance to the Thuringian crisis * among other things. The AfD, which was recently successful in all federal states, had to worry about remaining in the citizens for a long time - as did the FDP.
Hamburg election 2020: Twitter users react to cheers in the ARD studio
The cheering in the ARD studio was not hidden from some Twitter users either. As expected, opinions on user reaction differ. While some users question the neutrality of the ARD editorial team with comments such as "Very neutral, thank you @tagesschau ...", others express their consent to the reaction of the ARD employees. "Rightly! And I think it's great! ”Wrote one user, for example.
And the audience applauds in the studio ✊ #NazisWeg #HamburgWahl pic.twitter.com/kOL2VXZql5
- Fips (@FipsBook) February 23, 2020Cheers in the ARD studio at Hamburg election 2020: "Nazis out!" - Call at election parties by the SPD and the Greens
Even at the SPD and Greens election parties, they were obviously not only happy about their own election success, but also about the fact that the AfD had to tremble to enter parliament. "Nazis out!" Calls were heard loudly in the background at the election parties of both parties.
Proud. This is how you deal with Nazis, dear @fdp & @ CDU. # NazisRaus #HamburgWahl pic.twitter.com/BmOVwyhIX2
- Jannes Schulz (@SchulzJannes) February 23, 2020You can read all the important events relating to the Hamburg 2020 election in our live ticker *.
A statement by ntv / RTL reporter Heike Boese raises questions after the Hamburg election. The reaction of the transmitter ntv is also irritating.
* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network
Rubric list image: © Screenshot ARD.de
