Top German Journalist Admits Live On Air National News Agenda Set by Government

by Oliver JJ Lane
Breitbart
Feb. 02, 2016

A retired media boss at a major German state broadcaster has admitted his network and others take orders from the government on what -- and what not -- to report.

National public service broadcaster Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), which was recently forced into a humiliating apology for their silence on migrant violence and sex assault is being drawn into a fresh scandal after one of their former bureau chiefs admitted the company takes orders from the government on what it reports. He said journalists received instructions to write news that would be "to Ms. Merkel's liking".

Former head of ZDF Bonn Dr. Wolfgang Herles make the remarks during a radio event (from minute 27) in Berlin where journalists discussed the media landscape. Moving on to the freedom of the press, the panel chair asked Dr. Herles whether things in Germany had got "seriously out of whack". With an honesty perhaps unusual in Germany, Dr. Herles replied that ordinary Germans were totally losing faith in the media, something he called a "scandal". He said:

"We have the problem that – now I'm mainly talking about the public [state] media – we have a closeness to the government. Not only because commentary is mainly in line with the grand coalition (CSU, CDU, and SPD), with the spectrum of opinion, but also because we are completely taken in by the agenda laid down by the political class".

Worse than the mainstream, government controlled and poll-tax funded media in Germany just agreeing with the ruling coalition, the stations actually took orders on what was and was not to be reported on. He said:

"…the topics about which are reported are laid down by the government.

"There are many topics that would be more important than what the government wants. But they, of course, want to deflect attention away from what doesn't happen. Yet what doesn't happen is often more important than what does happen – more important than gesture politics".

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