According to the broadcaster, the state parliamentary group and the regional association of the AfD in Bavaria have banned a reporter from Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) from all of their events. As the BR announced on Friday morning, AfD parliamentary group leader Katrin Ebner-Steiner accused the journalist of insulting her. He rejects the allegations, “the BR has no reason to doubt it,” it says in one Press release from the station. The BR expects “that the communication and house ban will be reversed immediately”. When asked by the SZ, the AfD has not yet issued a statement on the case.
“This is an attempt to massively hinder Bayerischer Rundfunk in its journalistic work. I see this as an attack on freedom of the press,” said Thomas Hinrichs, BR’s information director. He accuses the AfD of “damaging its reputation” and calls the house ban “unacceptable.” BR editor-in-chief Christian Nitsche points out that the excluded reporter researched, among other things, fantasies of subversion in internal AfD party chats. “One can assume that he should be silenced and his information network in the AfD should be destroyed,” said Nitsche.