Swiss advertiser Alexander Segert helps AfD launch a newspaper
According to a report in the NZZ am Sonntag, a supporters' association is using Swiss funding to produce a tabloid newspaper for the German far-right party AfD.
The association plans to launch a newspaper with a circulation of 200,000 copies - first in Berlin, then in other densely populated regions. The weekly magazine, modeled on the Bild newspaper, is to be called "Deutschland-Kurier", with former Bild editor-in-chief Peter Bartels among those recruited as a columnist. In contrast to the former AfD newspaper Extra-Blatt, which was distributed once, Deutschland-Kurier will no longer be free, but will cost 30 cents per issue and be distributed by subscription. The publication is to consist exclusively of political content and prepare the journalistic ground for the AfD ahead of the federal elections.
According to the NZZ am Sonntag, SVP advertiser Alexander Segert, who lives in Switzerland, is involved in the project. The creator of the sheep, minaret and burka posters is said to be responsible for the design, among other things - as he already is for the Swiss editions of the SVP-Extrablatt and was for the AfD counterpart. The owner of the Swiss agency Goal emphasized in the Interview with the NZZ am Sonntag that he is merely a contractor. Segert is also not interested in establishing a network of European right-wing populists. His agency Goal had merely been commissioned by the "Association for the Preservation of the Rule of Law and Civil Liberties" to run the secretariat - which is one of the basic services of a PR agency.
Segert describes himself as transparent in the interview: "There is probably no other advertiser who is as open to discussion with the media as I am." However, especially in Germany, there is a danger that transparency will be confused with "terror of opinion" and that people will no longer be able to express a different opinion out of fear. Anyone who does not march with the political mainstream is placed in the right-wing corner - which is exactly what the German media is currently trying to do with him: "I have absolutely nothing to do with a fabricated network - that falls heavily into the realm of conspiracy theories." (hae/NZZaS)
