Freedom of expression and freedom of the media

As a general introduction, participants referred to the 2020 World Press Freedom Index⁽⁴⁾ published by Reporters without Borders in April 2021. Germany's rating had dropped by two points and the overall evaluation changed from "good" to "satisfactory". This drop was mainly due to the higher number of attacks on journalists, which mostly occurred during protests, and not because of increased influence from the state. Authorities noted, however, that legal provisions to protect journalists were good and that further measures to combat extremism had been put in place. Participants agreed that Germany had good legislation on media pluralism.

Since 2015, following the migration crisis, there had been an increase in negative attitudes towards the media from right-wing movements. In some cases, police failed to grant the necessary protection to journalists, which had led to an initiative proposed by media representatives to raise awareness about the increase in attacks on journalists. Nonetheless, the authorities underlined that Germany applied high standards as regards the protection of journalists and that no immediate action was needed. A study on how much journalists were affected by hate speech showed that 16% of respondents had been physically attacked, while another 16% had received threats on their lives. Out of these cases, 90% turned out to be politically motivated and 80% of them were conducted by the far right⁽⁵⁾ . As a result, there was an increasing tendency towards self-censorship to prevent possible confrontations. Some journalists confirmed that there were topics or events which they intentionally avoided; these included antiCOVID-measures marches and right-wing protests. As for journalists of colour and journalists with a migrant background, they tended to avoid topics such as racism in order to prevent hate speech. Another issue raised by participants was the lack of protection for foreign media representatives who operated on German soil.

(4) https://rsf.org/en/ranking
(5) Study published in May 2020 by the Bielefeld "Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence".