The Picture-Newspaper wrongly described the rapper Disarstar as a “Jew-hater rapper”. The German Press Council decided that Picture as well as Bild.de reprimanded. The media coverage was about the rapper’s final concert, which Norddeutscher Rundfunk had previously reported on. The title of the Picture-Contribution: “NDR celebrates rappers who hate Jews”. Disarstar, who wrote lyrics containing anti-Semitism in his youth, has long since distanced himself from his own lyrics. He also took legal action against the reporting, Picture then adjusted the title line.
The Press Council is now criticizing the reporting by Picture, because the editorial team neither gave the rapper the opportunity to comment nor mentioned in the article that he had distanced himself from these statements several times a long time ago. The committee sees this as a violation of journalistic care and the protection of honor. However, the Press Council does not object to the statement in the article that Disarstar “once wished death on Jews” “in view of the previous song lyrics”.
The German Press Council spoke on Friday a total of 20 public reprimands particularly violations of journalistic due diligence and victim protection. A total of eight of the complaints are directed at the Picture.