For moderation by journalist: Federal Criminal Police Office paid around 50,000 euros

The federal government paid according to research by WDR and NDR higher fees for moderations by journalists than previously known. The moderation of a journalist cost around 50,000 euros.

The autumn conference of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) is an event steeped in tradition. It has been held annually since 1954. A two-day conference on security in Germany. International terrorism has already been a topic, as has right-wing extremism and cybercrime. Police officers from the federal and state governments attend the conference, and scientists and media representatives are also present.

The event was hosted several times by a woman who is otherwise more likely to be seen on television: Anke Plättner, freelance journalist, known as the moderator of political talk shows at Phoenix or from interviews in the WDR-Television and in the ARDalso in the daily news and in the morning magazine – also on internal security issues.

Anke Plättner has moderated the BKA autumn conference three times so far, in 2019, 2021 and most recently in November 2022. As the Federal Ministry of the Interior at the request of WDR and NDR announced that the Federal Criminal Police Office spent 15,488.49 euros, 20,980.42 euros and most recently 16,600 euros on their moderations – public funds.

Sums that stand out because of their amount from several lists that ministries had recently issued to the media and as part of a small inquiry by the AfD in Parliament. Most jobs for female journalists were in the three-digit range, moderations in most cases in the four-digit range.

Plättner sees no conflict of interest

Plättner sees no conflict of interest upon request. The BKA conference is a two-day specialist conference for internal security, primarily with international experts and scientists. “There are no politicians there, the Federal Minister of the Interior or State Secretary and the Federal Minister of the Interior only gave one speech each,” Plättner said in writing.

According to Anke Plättner, 14,875 euros including VAT were paid for the 2019 autumn conference, and 16,660 euros each for 2021 and 2022. According to Plättner, the travel costs have also been added, which could explain the discrepancy with the even higher ministry figures.

“The preparation takes several months, including meetings and briefings with the organization team and the speakers. In 2021, the conference was switched to a complex hybrid format due to Covid,” Plättner explains the amount of the grants. The BKA, in turn, reports that the total amount of 20,980.42 euros paid to “Ms. Plättner” in 2021 “in addition to the moderation fee for the autumn conference plus VAT and travel expenses also includes remuneration for previous meetings/briefing appointments, a test event and includes a technical briefing.

1.5 million euros since 2018

Since 2018, the government has spent at least 1.5 million euros on moderation, texts, editing, training, lectures and events for journalists, according to a small inquiry. According to the federal government, around 900,000 euros went to journalists from public broadcasting and the international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and another around 600,000 euros to employees of private media.

The media representatives were anonymized, and in some cases the sums paid were also stated. As the “t-online” portal reported, there were said to have been around 200 journalists, 120 of whom worked for public broadcasting.

“Moderator, not journalist”

The “taz” had already reported in January that the former daily Newsspokeswoman and current Pro-Sieben presenter Linda Zervakis was selected and hired by the Federal Chancellery to moderate external organizers, including for an interview with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the media fair re:publica in Berlin.

The Chancellery is said to have paid the journalist more than 12,000 euros last year. When asked, Zervakis’ management said she had been booked and paid for as a moderator for the events, not as a journalist.

In the case of Anke Plättner, the autumn conference of the BKA was not the only moderation outside of Plättner’s work for the television stations. Their clients can also be seen on their website: They are mainly ministries, parties, lobby groups and trade unions – the extended political operation of the capital.

Plättner was with the for many years WDR works as a political reporter and editor and also at the jointly by ARD and ZDF broadcaster Phoenix. According to her own statements, she became self-employed in 2013 as a journalist, moderator, trainer and also managing director of a journalists’ organization. To this day, however, she works as a freelancer for the WDR and other public broadcasters.

Plättner’s topics in the “Phoenix Round” and in the “International Morning Pint” touch on all important political fields: including topics on internal security, which is about the BKA conference, which she regularly moderates for the Federal Criminal Police Office.

Beware of a conflict of interest

That could be a problem, says Volker Lilienthal, professor of journalism at the University of Hamburg. He refers to the control function of journalism over state institutions, which is important for a functioning democracy. “You can no longer trust her when the reporting persons are often paid by these ministries or authorities and are then even rewarded with very high sums for their moderation work,” says Lilienthal. The scientist fears a conflict of interest.

Plättner now has to put up with this question – just like other journalists who suspect a conflict of interest from the lists recently published by the authorities. The Interior Ministry appoints WDR and NDR about 50 jobs for journalists in the period from 2018 to 2022. Usually three-digit sums are paid for the creation of articles, reports, project presentations and interviews. For moderation, the amounts are mostly in the low to medium four-digit range.

Different interests

In addition to the BKA conferences presented by Plättner, a cyber security conference from autumn 2020 stands out, for which 9280 euros were estimated for moderation costs. The moderation took over a radio moderator of the public service broadcaster. Not all journalists on these lists have a conflict of interest at the same time, some of them, for example, were no longer working as reporters at the time of their moderation assignment.

Plättner also took on orders from the CDU/CSU faction in 2017. Shortly before the CSU took over the Federal Ministry of the Interior with Horst Seehofer and Plättner then moderated the BKA autumn conference, she led the CDU/CSU parliamentary group through three specialist conferences on digitization, security and energy, as she confirmed on request. “This activity is in no way related to the autumn meetings of the BKA,” she said.

Massive increase in costs at the BKA

With Plättner taking over the moderation of the autumn conference, the position of moderation for the BKA tripled. For Plättner’s predecessor, another public journalist, 4200 euros were estimated. How did the sums come about?

“The amount of the individual fees is based on individual agreements,” said a BKA spokeswoman. Decisive for this were “various criteria, eg the thematic focus of the autumn conference, experience in moderating political formats, but also cost aspects”. When asked, the BKA explained that the “cost aspects” related to “further personnel options” when awarding the moderation. Or to put it another way: Other people who were asked probably named even higher fees.

The public broadcasters in particular have a particular responsibility in the event of possible conflicts of interest, says journalism professor Lilienthal: “The fact that public broadcasting is remote from the state is fundamentally disputed by certain political milieus today. And that makes it all the more important that everyone involved , i.e. employees as well as supervisors, have this problem in mind.”

In fact, full-time reporters usually have to get outside work approved. If possible collisions arise, a permit will be denied. In the case of freelancers, it depends on how strongly they are contractually bound to the broadcaster. It is customary for the self-employed to at least notify their clients of the activities and obtain an opinion on them if there is any indication of a possible conflict of interest.

“Fees do not have to be disclosed by freelancers”

The journalist did not answer whether this happened in the Plättner case. Phoenix did not go into the specific case either, made general comments. Fee amounts and clients would not have to be disclosed by freelancers. Plättner’s professional freedom must “in individual cases, however, be balanced with the legitimate interests of the employer”. The activities of the freelancer Plättner would be handled for Phoenix via ZDF.

According to this, the sideline activities of permanent and freelance workers should not affect the interests of ZDF and must be designed in such a way that journalistic independence is out of the question, Phoenix emphasized when asked.

He made a similar statement WDR upon request. “In individual cases, these activities must be compatible with the legitimate interests of the WDR be balanced. For us, one of the most important criteria is whether the independence of the program could be adversely affected by a possible conflict of interests.” An approval procedure is not possible for freelance journalists as it is for permanent employees.