As of: February 6, 2024, 8:00 p.m
By: Moritz Maier
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The AfD is in the media spotlight.
But dealing with the right-wing party is often wrong, say experts.
Instead of pointing out her danger, he actually helps her.
Berlin – Secret meetings, demonstrations against right-wing extremism, possible election victories in Thuringia and Saxony: On its eleventh birthday, the AfD is more present in the media than ever before.
And despite constant warnings about the party from politicians and the media for years, the attention seems to be driving more and more people to the AfD.
True to the motto: There is no such thing as bad advertising.
The media must therefore provide different information about the self-declared alternative for Germany, say other parties.
AfD on course for victory in state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg
“The AfD is often reported on in too one-sided terms,” says Thuringia’s FDP leader and short-term Prime Minister due to votes from the AfD, Thomas Kemmerich, to our editorial team about the role of the media.
Kemmerich resigned just a few days after the 2020 election because of the AfD votes and once again left the office of state father to Bodo Ramelow (Left).
State elections are coming up again in Thuringia in the fall.
There are also elections in Saxony and Brandenburg.
According to surveys, the AfD is in first place everywhere.
The pressure is growing on the other parties.
Kemmerich says that reports about the AfD need to focus more on their specific political positions and what they mean for people.
According to an analysis by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), the people who would suffer most from the AfD program would be their own supporters, who often live with low or middle incomes in structurally weak regions.
“We make too many mistakes in dealing with the AfD, and by that I also mean us as politicians.
As a society, we have to approach the issues addressed by the AfD differently,” says Kemmerich.
“It is not enough to focus on the AfD’s eternal stigma as a right-wing extremist.”
The media must make it clear what danger lies in the AfD
This assessment is shared by right-wing extremism expert and professor emeritus at the Free University of Berlin, Hajo Funke.
He has been involved with the AfD for years and considers it to be a “right-wing extremist party that wants to know and that has a real chance of gaining power in Saxony and Thuringia.”
According to Funke, AfD politicians “have little in mind for this republic and instead want a ethnic, national one”.
Is the media dealing with the AfD incorrectly?
This is what politicians and experts say.
Demonizing the party is the wrong way to warn people about Björn Höcke and Co.
© Picture alliance/dpa/Martin Schutt/Annette Riedl
“That’s why it makes sense not to demonize the AfD, but rather to make it clear what danger it poses,” says the expert.
In concrete terms, this means for the media: Reports about the AfD as a right-wing extremist party are not enough.
Instead, more needs to be said about their plans for Germany.
For example, about the “well-tempered cruelty” that Björn Höcke calls for when dealing with refugees.
About deportation plans for people who have lived and worked in Germany for decades.
But also about the possibilities with which the AfD could reshape the judiciary in its favor if it wins elections in Saxony and Thuringia.
“It is based on illiberal structures like in Hungary and could quickly implement measures to dismantle democracy even at the state level,” says Funke.
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Henning Homann, state chairman of the Saxon SPD, also wants to focus more on content in political discourse.
“Last year I conducted two interviews on the subject of wage inequality and 50 on the AfD,” says Homann.
“We don’t talk about the people out there.
We are turning our attention to ourselves.” The Social Democrat advocates talking less about poll numbers and strategies.
“Interviews are not about the fact that the average Saxon earns 700 euros less gross per month than his West German colleague.”
The demand from politicians is to look at the people, not at the AfD.
But for extremism researcher Funke, that's only half the truth.
He believes that the strong support for the right-wing party is also due to the “pathetic image” that the other parties at the federal and state level often present at the moment “because they only argue publicly”.
High support for the AfD cannot only be justified by the role of the media
Despite everything, criticism of contending centrist parties and the media is not the only reason for the AfD's high approval ratings.
A detailed study on the AfD by the Otto Brenner Foundation last year showed that in the 2021 federal election, 90 percent of AfD voters said they felt well represented by the party.
Wielding the media's right-wing extremist club alone is no longer enough.
According to political expert Funke, the governing parties in particular need to make better policies.