Farewell to the ZDF director: Steinmeier: “Freedom of the press is the antidote”

Federal President Steinmeier thanked the war correspondents in Ukraine and paid tribute to freedom of the press. Steinmeier spoke at the farewell of the ZDF director Bellut.

Federal President Steinmeier praised the freedom of the press and described the new Russian media laws as a “deep turning point”. “Freedom of the press is the antidote to totalitarian madness – to the madness of gaining sovereignty over people’s thoughts,” said Steinmeier in Mainz.

The freedom for the media to report unhindered creates “equality through knowledge, disclosure of what is intentionally hidden, encouragement for enlightened disputes.” Democracies cannot survive without freedom of the press, while autocracies with freedom of the press cannot survive, he explained.

Banning reporting shows weakness

The latest tightening of the media in Russia ensured that the propaganda machine could unhindered its effect. Twitter and Facebook have been blocked in order to banish the digital space of independent information from the public. “Baning reporting is a sign of weakness.” It is the admission that something is happening that should not be seen.

“When I talk about freedom of the press, I’m not talking about anything abstract,” said Steinmeier. Journalism is made by people. He thanked the journalists who report from the war zones under difficult conditions. Her courage is “the slingshot against oppression and propaganda.”

ZDF director says goodbye

In Mainz, Steinmeier said goodbye to ZDF director Thomas Bellut, who is resigning from his post. Steinmeier emphasized that freedom of the press is also in danger in Germany. After two grueling years of the pandemic, there are rifts in society that “have become even deeper, even more obvious.” The idea of ​​a common democratic public “must remain our claim, and that must also be the claim on public broadcasters.”