Bayerischer Rundfunk uses images from the Stuttgart riot night as evidence of violence at Corona demos

Created: 05/23/2022, 14:38

By: Nadja Pohr

The BR24 YouTube channel uses the same image for two different posts.

Criticism hailed on Twitter.

© Photomontage BW24/Screenshot YouTube/BR24

BR24 used a picture of the riots in Stuttgart in June 2020 to report on the violence at Corona demos.

That's why Twitter calls for clarification.

Stuttgart/Munich - Since serious riots broke out in downtown Stuttgart in June 2020, the city has been struggling with image problems and trying to regain citizens' sense of security.

The images of the acts of violence have not only shocked and stunned the people in the region, but also large parts of Germany.

Trade and gastronomy continue to name the incidents as a reason for the lack of visitors in the city center.

The recordings from the night of the riot, in which police officers were attacked and injured, among other things, immediately spread to social and public media.

Similar scenes also occurred during riots at demos against the Corona measures - for example, when hundreds of people in Stuttgart ignored the Corona rules and resisted the police.

However, the riot night in Stuttgart and the violence at Corona demos cannot be compared per se - but that is exactly what Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) did, as BW24 reports.

BR24 uses footage from the Stuttgart riot night for a report on violence at Corona demos

On the short message service Twitter, a user expressed his surprise at the footage that the news portal of the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation BR24 used for its reporting on YouTube about violent riots at Corona demos.

The user also came across an older post about the night of riots in downtown Stuttgart and noticed that the cover photos are identical.

“Why does BR24 use footage from the riots in Stuttgart as evidence of violence at Corona demos?” he asks the Twitter community.

In fact, both featured images show the same scene captured in June 2020.

A serious mistake by the BR, which is part of the public service broadcaster (ÖRR), as other Twitter users comment.

"For me, this is a criminal activity through deliberate distortion of facts," said one user under the post.

"For 8 billion you can't expect research into every detail," writes another ironically.

Twitter users are demanding clarification from Bayerischer Rundfunk

A few users on Twitter suspect that the double use of the image is an accident.

"I suspect that the ÖRR accidentally slipped an archive picture again," says one.

But it could also be a symbolic image, one user suspects.

In any case, people on Twitter are demanding an explanation from BR24.