Editorial
Stern editor-in-chief
Short breaks and a plea for courageous support for democracy – Gregor Peter Schmitz on the new star
The new star “Take a deep breath – 33 little breaks: in the mountains, by the water and at home”
© star
Also look at the turn of the year star-Editor-in-chief Gregor Peter Schmitz looks back on the year. His conclusion: Democracy suffered in 2023 – and it is up to us citizens to take better care of it again in 2024.
Unfortunately, the prospects for this are poor, as much as I hate to write so pessimistically at the turn of the year. Because the elections mentioned are subject to a common reservation: how democratic are they really?
In Russia, warlord Vladimir Putin will almost certainly be crowned tsar again; possible opponents are dead or imprisoned.
Although India is proud to be the largest democracy in the world, no one doubts that the tightly ruling Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be re-elected.
And in the United States, a man who makes no secret of his contempt for democracy and who has already announced that he wants to be a dictator, at least for a day, could return to the White House. No joke.
It’s “those up there” who are to blame – we’re making it too easy for ourselves
In Germany, too, the voices of those who doubt the democratic system are increasing. Fewer and fewer people have the feeling that they can freely express their political opinions; This emerges from a survey by the Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy and the media research institute Media Tenor. Accordingly, the perceived freedom of expression among the population has reached its lowest level since the 1950s. And in the institution ranking that Forsa pollsters regularly carry out, the institution “Chancellor” only enjoys trust from 20 percent of German citizens. 15 years ago it was 75 percent. The survey also shows that supporters of the AfD trust almost no one anymore.
Should we therefore give up democracy? Moment! Winston Churchill already pointed out that democracy is the worst form of government, apart from all others. I no longer want to hear that “those up there” are to blame for everything. I would rather agree with the wise constitutional lawyer Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde. He once said that the free state lives on conditions that it itself cannot guarantee. That was the risk he took for the sake of freedom. We citizens have to create the foundations for democratic coexistence, the social glue, every day. Nobody takes this task away from us.
Journalists should not celebrate themselves, even if we have a tendency to do so, because we are vain people. But you can celebrate when journalism is excellent. That’s why I’m very pleased that a number of colleagues from our company were chosen among the “Journalists of the Year 2023”: our GEO colleague Dirk Steffens as “Science Journalist of the Year”, the investigative team from RTL and star for his research into the working conditions in the Tesla factory in Brandenburg, ours star-Columnist and ntv presenter Micky Beisenherz in the entertainment section as well as the reporters Sophia Maier and Birte Meier. Congratulations!
I wish you that 2024 will be a good, a better year!