Media & parties
AfD must allow ARD “Monitor” to attend party conference
According to the AfD, acceptance ends “when there can no longer be any talk of journalistic reporting at all.” photo
© Carsten Koall/dpa
Court decision against party resistance: The political magazine “Monitor” is granted access to the AfD party conference, but the party demands an oral hearing.
In response to a request from the German Press Agency, the Erfurt regional court announced on Thursday that the application by the public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) for an interim injunction had been granted. At the same time, a court spokesman said that the opposing side had requested an oral hearing in the matter. How the case will continue in court and whether there will be a hearing remained unclear at first.
The state party conference of the AfD Thuringia begins on Friday. On Wednesday it became known that the ARD “Monitor” team had been refused permission by the party to report, unlike in the case of other media.
AfD: “Clumsy propaganda”
“Monitor” director Georg Restle criticized the decision of the party, which the state Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Thuringia classified as definitely right-wing extremist, as a “revealing oath by a right-wing extremist AfD state association that shows what the party thinks of critical journalism and freedom of expression in this country.”
The state spokesman for the AfD Thuringia, Stefan Möller, published his reasons for the exclusion of the “Monitor” team on the X platform, formerly Twitter. Among other things, he emphasized that it was in the party’s interest to report on party conferences. Acceptance ends “when there can no longer be any talk of journalistic reporting at all.” Möller also wrote of “clumsy propaganda”.
“This is a success for free reporting in this country”
The WDR broadcaster had emphasized that it was extremely worrying that “a party represented in parliament would deny journalists access to a party conference because it does not agree with the reporting.”
WDR’s editor-in-chief for politics and current affairs, Ellen Ehni, said on Thursday about the court decision: “This is a success for free reporting in this country – and for democracy. The court encourages us in our mission.” This also includes reporting on state party conferences, where critical questions must of course be possible.
AfD politician Möller posted on “We are continuing to try to prevent this in time.”