A TV interview with Armin Laschet and two child reporters made waves.
Now the Union's candidate for chancellor has commented on the format - and accusations are being raised.
Berlin - In any case, it was not a glamorous appearance by Armin Laschet: The questions of two eleven-year-old child reporters on the ProSieben program “Late Night Berlin” brought the Union's candidate for chancellor into trouble on Tuesday. Laschet was increasingly attracted by topics such as the Hambach Forest, marriage for same-sex couples or his opinion on the controversial CDU politician Hans-Georg Maaßen - he also made (negative) headlines in the international press.
But it is not only Laschet's dealings with the child reporters Pauline and Romeo that will be the subject of discussion shortly before the general election.
Displeasure is also growing in the Union about the format itself. According to a report by
Spiegel,
the accusation is that the young questioners in the section “Children ask ...” wore buttons in their ears - and the alleged children's questions were questions put forward by the eleven-year-olds Been an adult.
Video: The SPD's lead has shrunk slightly
Laschet reacts to child reporters after a snotty appearance - "Children don't speak like that"
Laschet himself also commented on Thursday, two days after the broadcast.
“I like to talk to children,” he said.
In the show, however, the children had "a button in their ear".
"That's not how children speak," he added.
It was a "special format".
While the CDU headquarters did not comment publicly, some confidants of the candidate for chancellor have already made statements.
The interview "raises questions", wrote Schleswig-Holstein's CDU education minister Karin Prien on Twitter on Wednesday.
She further asked: "Have children been instrumentalized?"
# LateNightBerlin children's interview with @ArminLaschet raises questions.
Should that be political satire?
I have discussions with school children almost every week.
Neither children nor young adolescents ask such questions.
Did the children have buttons in their ears?
Have children been instrumentalized?
https://t.co/eeUeHAs2NN
- Karin Prien (@PrienKarin) September 15, 2021
Bundestag election: ProSieben spokesman takes a position on CDU allegations
In response to a request from
Spiegel
,
ProSieben spokesman Christoph Körfer said
that the children had "of course" been given editorial support - "during and after their interviews". It is "common practice" that journalists wear a button in their ears on television. "So why should you deny two eleven-year-old children this common tool?" He asked. (
nema
)