Reporters Without Borders deplores "hostility" in the East

The organization "Reporters Without Borders" deplores increasing hostility towards journalists in eastern Germany. According to the report "Close-up: RSF report on the state of press freedom in Germany" published on Tuesday, there were a total of fifteen verified attacks on press representatives in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia last year.

Saxony is in second place behind Berlin with nine incidents, according to the report. Saxony-Anhalt ranks third with five documented attacks. According to the report, there was one documented incident in Thuringia. There were 20 documented attacks in Berlin. The authors also explained this by the fact that numerous media companies are based in the German capital.

Protection by security services and police needed

The organization also evaluated other studies for its analysis: According to these, local journalists in Saxony and Thuringia in particular are exposed to "extreme hostility" when researching the far-right milieu. According to a study by the "European Center for Press and Media Freedom" and the Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers, two thirds of those surveyed reported "physical attacks, including threats of violence and death sent to private addresses".

According to a TU Dresden research project, press representatives were only able to report on right-wing extremist Monday protests in East Germany "at considerable risk". Journalists had to rely on protection from private security forces or the police. Only a few journalists would go to activities of the far-right scene "without a solid protection concept".

Razzia after attack on journalists in Berlin

The report mentions, among other things, an attack on two journalists in Berlin after they had reported on Christopher Street Day in Bautzen last August. There had been right-wing counter-protests there. In September, eight homes of suspected members of the right-wing extremist group "Deutsche Jugend voran" were raided in Berlin, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.