Germany: Physical assaults on journalists are increasing, report finds

A study has found that local journalists reporting on demonstrations are most at risk of physical attack. Such cases have been mapped since 2015 by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), which is based in Leipzig.

According to the study called “The Journalist as the Enemy” (Fendbild Journalist), which the ECPMF is working on together with the Federal Union of German Newspaper Publishers (BDZV), last year the number of such cases grew once more. A total of 69 incidents were reported compared to 56 cases in 2022.

Between 2015 and 2019, there was an approximate average of 23 such cases annually. One-third of all the recorded cases since 2015 (117 of 390 cases total) are happening in Saxony.

The study reports 13 cases in Saxony last year and 11 there in 2022. Second place in 2022 was Berlin with nine assaults, followed by Bavaria and Thuringia with eight cases each.

Last year Berlin rose to first place once again with 25 cases. Bavaria remained in third place with six cases last year.

Demonstrations were the location of 77 % of all cases (53 out of 69 cases), 40 % of them at pro-Palestinian assemblies (21 of 53 cases). In Saxony, 79 % of assaults on journalists came from the ultra-right (92 of 117 cases mapped since 2015).

“…for safety reasons I won’t be continuing to report.”

The authors of the study found increasing aggression in the approach taken above all by demonstrators and other members of the public toward journalists and photographers. Animosity toward the media is no longer just being displayed by those shouting “Lügenpresse” (“the lying press”) and other insults and threats which have become part of the everyday lives of journalists, but also through the increasing number of violent physical attacks on journalists during the past four years, says co-author Patrick Peltz.

“I’m reporting from Burgstädt in Saxony. The Querdenker [a protest movement targeting measures to combat COVID-19] has been marching here for several months, but the event today marks the first time it was announced to the authorities,” reported journalist Kili Weber on Twitter in April 2023 from a demonstration in the small town of Burgstädt in Saxony.

“There are about 50 demonstrators. The flags of ‘Free Saxony’ and the Russian Federation can be seen. There is also an upside-down German flag, the symbol of the German Reich scene. Racist fake news is being spread through the speeches underway. They are alleging that police officers are not permitted to take any actions against suspicious migrants. Now they are saying that ‘Germany is a firm’, which is clear German Reich jargon,” Weber tweeted.

A moment later, marchers tried to cover the reporter’s camera with different objects and then one participant struck her on the hand with a flagpole. In September 2023, the same journalist tweeted the following about events from a demonstration convened in the small town of Crimmitschau by the radical right-wing party Free Saxony:

“One participant is shouting that they should stab me. Another is striking at my mobile phone, another is hitting my entourage with a mallet… The demonstration is continuing, but for safety reasons I won’t be continuing to report. I’m ending my reporting now.”

Other such cases have been reported from Dresden, the birthplace of the ultra-right PEGIDA movement. “On 6 November, a journalist was assaulted in Dresden on Sophienstraße near the intersection with Taschenberg, where about a thousand followers of the ultra-right PEGIDA movement were demonstrating. One participant kicked a journalist below the knee and injured him. Another attempted to hit a journalist with his hand on the back of his neck,” the study describes the incidents.

Alternative for Germany (AfD) politicians Björn Höcke and Andreas Kalbitz appeared at that demonstration. Lutz Bachmann, the co-founder of PEGIDA, was also present.

Assaults on journalists also happen in other settings besides demonstrations. In May 2023, photographer Uwe Meinhold was physically attacked by a passer-by in the small town of Chemnitz in Saxony during a photo shoot with left-wing local councillor Susanne Schaper.

“After I took the first shot, a man came up to me and aggressively told me I had photographed him. When I told him that wasn’t the case, he punched me in the face with his right fist and kicked me between the legs,” Meinhold described the incident for the TAG24 daily, for whom he was working at the time.

Meinhold’s upper lip was bleeding as a result of his injuries. He is a freelance photographer living and working in the Ore Mountains region of Saxony.

The freelancer frequently takes photos for local institutions and media, but his work is also used by renowned national media such as Der Spiegel. In 2011 he was given an award for his photography commissioned by the Deutsche-Presse Agentur (DPA) agency.

Self-censorship and insufficient protection

According to the analysis in the Feindbild Journalist study, self-censorship, above all in the local media, is increasing in Germany among reporters as a result of these aggressive assaults. Local journalists admitted in interviews with the authors that they leave some subjects out of their news reporting because they perceive themselves to be under a state of permanent threat.

The authors of the study warn that such self-censorship is dangerous for democracy. “Reports by local journalists that they or their colleagues do not report on some actors and movements out of fear for their own safety is very disturbing when it comes to freedom of the press in Germany. Critical news reporting is especially important in the runup to the elections being held in Saxony this year in which many right-wing extremists are candidates. ‘Blind spots’ in news reporting make it possible for such entities to present themselves as candidates who are caring and harmless, which is how they establish connections with people who feel they have been abandoned by the established parties,” Peltz points out.

According to the researchers, another problem frequently is insufficient police protection for journalists at demonstrations. Although the ECPMF says the situation is improving, journalists still repeatedly report cases where they were not sufficiently protected or where they themselves were targeted by police measures.

In 2019, the ECPMF published its Press Freedom Police Codex. The codex covers questions of accreditation, confiscation of journalists’ materials, how to protect sources, police brutality and police surveillance.

The creators of the codex based it on their research in the area of conflicts between the members of these professions Europe-wide. The ECPMF aims to establish dialogue between journalists and police, provide instruction through the codex, and thereby contribute to smoother cooperation between the professions.

The Belgian representative of the European Confederation of Police (EuroCOP), Peter Smets, welcomed the initiative five years ago. “Given the growth in violence in our society, journalists and police officers are facing the same challenge. That challenge is to improve communication. We all ultimately want to go home safely at the end of the day.”

Five other organizations contributed to the creation of the codex besides the ECPMF: The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Index on Censorship, Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT), Ossigeno per l’informazione (O2) and the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO).