Germany: How do the media deal with the threat of terrorism?
How do German media outlets report on the threat of terrorism? Author Marcus Klöckner addresses this question and concludes: «Critical, objective, and independent reporting on terrorism is in short supply.»
In his analysis "Terror and the German media", Klöckner takes a close look at the reporting on the Namibia dummy bomb. He accuses the media of distancing itself from politics, the security authorities and its own reporting: The media had entered into an alliance with politics. As a result, they largely no longer fulfill their core tasks of presenting information according to journalistic principles such as balance and critical distance.
According to Klöckner, even highly professionalized media throw the simplest basic journalistic rules overboard as long as it serves the purpose of reporting as quickly as possible, preferably first. Quality is subordinated to the primacy of speed. The reporting is one-sided, critical voices that question current developments are not heard. "Speculation replaced the hard facts, terror hysteria displaced objectivity." The media had irresponsibly made themselves "accomplices to a policy of terror fear and terror hysteria".
According to Klöckner, even highly professionalized media throw the simplest basic journalistic rules overboard as long as it serves the purpose of reporting as quickly as possible, preferably first. Quality is subordinated to the primacy of speed. The reporting is one-sided, critical voices that question current developments are not heard. "Speculation replaced the hard facts, terror hysteria displaced objectivity." The media had irresponsibly made themselves "accomplices to a policy of terror fear and terror hysteria".
The article was published in the online magazine Telepolis of Heise Zeitschriften Verlag: > To the article.
