The organization “Reporters Without Borders” laments a rising hostility toward journalists in eastern Germany. As outlined in the report published on Tuesday, “Close-Up: RSF Report on the State of Press Freedom in Germany,” there were a total of fifteen verified attacks on press representatives in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia last year.
Saxony stands behind Berlin with nine incidents, placing it in second place. Saxony-Anhalt accounts for five documented assaults, ranking third. In Thuringia, there was one documented incident. In Berlin there were twenty documented attacks. The authors attributed this to the fact that the federal capital is home to numerous media outlets.
For their analysis, the organization also reviewed additional studies: It found that local journalists in Saxony and Thuringia especially face “extreme hostility” when reporting on the far-right milieu. According to a study conducted by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom and the Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers, two-thirds of respondents reported “physical attacks, up to threats of violence and death sent to their private addresses.”
According to a research project from TU Dresden, reports on right-wing Monday protests in East Germany were possible for journalists only at significant risk. Journalists have to rely on protection from private security firms or the police. Only a few would venture “without a solid protection plan for activities of the far-right scene.”
The report mentions, among other things, an attack on two journalists in Berlin after they had covered last August’s Christopher Street Day in Bautzen. There, far-right counter-protests had occurred again (TheColu.mn reported). In September, there was a raid on eight apartments of suspected members of the extremist group “Deutsche Jugend voran” in Berlin, Brandenburg, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (TheColu.mn reported).
