Germany's Largest Weekly Now Officially the Joschka Fischer Propaganda Page

(By Ray D.)

Germany's most widely read political weekly magazine is "stern," which ranks ahead of both Der Spiegel and Focus with a circulation of around 8 million. That's right, we are talking about the same "stern" that ran the following two covers about "How America Lied to the World" and another depicting a boot draped in an American flag crushing German workers:

Earlier "stern" covers on the United States

It's also the same "stern" that recently ran an incredibly degrading gallery of American stereotypes and published another article on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day comparing Condoleezza Rice to Barney the Dog while labeling her the "voice of her master." It's the same "stern" that called American soldiers involved in the tragic shooting of an Italian agent murderers with absolutely no proof and then quickly back peddled when we at Medienkritik called them on it.

Now stern is doing its part for the Schroeder-Fischer government by publishing propaganda that Michael Moore would be proud of. The subject is Joschka Fischer. The online magazine currently features an interview with the Foreign Minister in which Fischer is practically encouraged to criticize the opposition and is asked totally uncritical questions about his campaign and exercise regimen. We at Medienkritik have never seen this many softball questions in such a short interview, and we have seen a lot of interviews.

But that's not all! Stern is also running another one of its famous photo galleries entitled "Foreign Minister: Now Again for Loving." As you might have guessed, the pictures all depict Fischer in a highly positive, even heroic light.

Stern's Heroic Fischer: The US Media Pro-Government? What About the German Media?

The icing on the cake is yet another article which displays Fischer in heroic pose and begins as follows (emphasis original):

"With a bus tour through the country, the Ober-Green Joschka Fischer wants to turn things around. He fights for Red-Green, for Schroeder and for himself. Within just a few months he has re-invented himself. A report from Fischer's bus.

Fischer is fit. (...) Fischer attacks, but he doesn't injure, he has bite, but he spares himself the malice. He is different from just a few months back. That's how the people like him. That is how he catches them, the person-Fischer. (...)

Since May 22 Fischer is once again Joschka - and Joschka wants to test himself once again. Red-Green without a chance? Fischer is the leading candidate of the Greens, he is their workhorse, everything is built around him, everything depends on him. And he wants to show everyone. With a bus, with a journey, with countless speeches, talks, interviews. "Summer journey" is what the Greens call it. Fischer wants to travel the nation for five and a half weeks. Without a break. Just the length of the journey is a message in itself. This is Fischer's campaign, so they say. He, Joschka, is fighting until election day for government, for his office and for respect. For the Greens, for the SPD for himself and for Gerhard Schroeder. The last upright man at the Red-Green round table."

Gag...choke...cough. This sort of propaganda sounds like it was written by the former East German propaganda masters about Comrade Honecker and all of his great deeds and tireless efforts.

And this campaign is only starting to get hot. Media like stern and SPIEGEL have been lambasting the conservative CDU/CSU and the FDP at every opportunity. Instead of talking about real issues like the economy and Germany's massive unemployment, the left-wing media has been reporting on armpit sweat, Edmund Stoiber's frustration with "the frustrated" in eastern Germany and Guido Westerwelle's campaign bus from 2002, the "Guidomobil". They run photo after photo of infighting, sneering conservatives while portraying Schroeder and Fischer as cool professionals on the comeback trail.

This is all about bias folks, don't be fooled. If the media wanted to find infighting, embarrassing gaffes and problems in Schroeder's camp and blow them out of proportion, they could easily do so. But they won't. They could talk about the years of economic failure of the Schroeder-Fischer government and the misery of Germany's millions of unemployed or about the numerous blatant inconsistencies in recent Schroeder statements on Iran. But they won't.

And it is going to get a lot uglier. Count on it. Many in the German media badly want to help Fischer and Schroeder stay in power and will do so at all costs, even if it means ignoring all journalistic standards and further denigrating the already low standard of German media.

This is all about ideology ladies and gentlemen. Make no mistake...the fun has just begun, so stay tuned until election day...

Comments

[amiexpat]

This is one of the sickest things I have ever read.
I have always called the man Saint Joschka because everyone treats him as if he were holy..
well I don't know if anyone else got the play on words..

Compare this: Matthew 4:19, Mark 1:17
Und Jesus sprach zu ihnen: Folget mir nach, so will ich euch zu Menschenfischern machen!

This was Christ's call to his disciples.

with the text of the article:

So mögen ihn die Menschen. So fängt er sie ein, der Menschen-Fischer.

last sentence of the first paragraph..

So.. Fischer is an Apostle of Jesus.. no, he couldn't be, he is HOLY..
hell, he must be Christ himself, the SAVIOR!!
was he born in a manger? was his mother a virgin?
it is all starting to make sense now..
the Jews are still waiting for their Messiah.. could it be...
I mean, look at all the man has done for Israel!! After all in the interests of peace he attended a PLO gathering BEFORE the PLO recognized Israel!!!

if any American paper or magazine would describe Bush as a disciple on a mission from God or used any wording remotely similar, the German press would be all over it.
and here they compare Saint Joschka with Christ's call to his disciples..

too sick...

[Vic]

I'm afraid the CDU deserves the harsh treatment from the press since so far it has run a poor campaign. Angela Merkel lacks charisma and has not demonstrated any leadership qualities to speak of. The CDU's election manifesto (or 'governance program' as they call it) shows that the party is bankrupt of ideas: the cornerstone is an increase in the VAT! There are still four weeks to go before the election, but I am not optimistic that the CDU can turn it around and paint a compelling vision for Germany's future.

[PacRim Jim]

If Germany were of consequence, I would comment. More important things to do, however.

[Sock Puppet of Doom]

You mean this was not all written by former east German ministry of propaganda workers Ray? Could have fooled me. Again I sadly predict a left, left, neo communist "grand coalition." German's importance to the rest of the world diminshes every day.

On a side note for some reason my "log in" doesn't stick. I check off the box that say's to keep me logged in for 2 weeks but am required to log in everytime I post.

[tebox]

This Stern-"Article" is really disgusting. But it is higly unlikely that anything positve about Fischer will be written in SPIEGEL. Since the "Visa-Affair" if not earlier the articles about him are pretty negative. With three cover-stories in a row about the Visa-Affair (in which until now no crucial mistake of Fischer could be proven) they showed their desire to get him out of office.

You are simply wrong if you think that your most favorite enemy SPIEGEL will take side für the red-gree coalition.

[Zyme]

Today the Conservatives fully adopted Schroeder's point of view as regards Iran. Military options are out of the question they say - there are only diplomatic solutions available they say.

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,369874,00.html

Now where are all those clever american experts on german politics, who predicted that the conservatives will act differently in this matter?

The conservatives are no different to Schroeder: All that counts is to be elected, foreigners should not be fooled on this one.

[RayD]

@ Zyme:

Indeed. But I guess if the CDU took a different stance, they would take terrible losses at the polls. This is truly disappointing.

[Don]

"The conservatives are no different to Schroeder: All that counts is to be elected, foreigners should not be fooled on this one."

The first time I heard this one was in 1980. Reagan vs Carter. And Reagan was the same as Carter. Riiiigggghhhhtttttt.

[Dr. Edi S.]

...But they won't.

Huh? German print media won't criticize Schröder and Fischer ... are you serious?

Take a look at Der Spiegel's cover pages this year:Der Spiegel 1-32/2005!

Issues 10, 22 and 27 attack Schröder pretty harshly.
Issues 12, 21 and 26 are quite critical of the Red-Green coalition's legacy.
Issues 6 and 8 blast Joschka Fischer personally for his role in the "Visa Affäre."
Not one issue features a conservative politician in a negative light.
So wich way does the bias work?

You know, your blog is fun to read, and sometimes you're right on the mark.
Too often, though, you fail to give your non German-speaking readers an adequate picture of the real situation. Don't call your blog "Medien"kritik when in effect it is "look how they don't like Bush like we do"kritik.

The interview with Fischer in stern.de is really no different than any other interview they do with any other politician. Fischer has been Germany's most popular figure and a media icon for a long time, true. He's rivaled now by a conservative. How's that possible in the alleged climate of hatred towards every non-leftist? Currently, the Christian Democrats and the Free Democratic party have (according to polls) a majority of the vote. How come?

Why haven't you commented about the merger of Springer Verlag with Pro Sieben/Sat1? A decidedly conservative publishing house aquires half of Germany's private TV channels - I would have thought this might please you just a little.
Or ain't Springer on the right side from your point of view?

[RayD]

@ Dr. Edi S.

"Huh? German print media won't criticize Schröder and Fischer ... are you serious?"

My point was not that the German media never criticize Schroeder and Fischer. Of course they do. That's obvious. That is strawman number one. My point was clearly made in the context of the election race. The media have suddenly become very hard on the CDU/FDP and eased-off on the SPD and Greens with highly flattering articles like the one on Mr. Fischer.

And of course SPIEGEL has had some critical covers on Schroeder. That's obvious. But let's admit the simple truth: It would be impossible not to be critical considering Schroeder's horrific economic record and repeated failings over 7 years. To ignore that would be to ignore reality entirely. Still, I can find you even more covers bashing Bush, and he isn't even a German leader. And one more thing, do you honestly think that the CDU and FDP are currently getting coverage as favorable as that given to the SPD and Greens by magazine's like SPIEGEL? Get serious.

Additionally, I never said that there is a climate of hatred towards every non-leftist in the German media. That is strawman number two. Again: My point was simply that the media's bias in favor of the left is giving certain parties the advantage in this critical election phase.

"Too often, though, you fail to give your non German-speaking readers an adequate picture of the real situation. Don't call your blog "Medien"kritik when in effect it is "look how they don't like Bush like we do"kritik."

We have stated it before: This site is not about cheerleading for Bush. That is strawman number three. I personally disagree with the Bush administration on numerous issues. But that is beside the point. We are about calling for reasonably fair coverage of the United States and conservative Americans in the German media. Clearly, there is a widespread negative bias in that regard that stifles meaningful transatlantic dialogue and understanding. As far as our non-German speaking readers go, we think they are smart enough to figure out what is going on in the German media.

As far as the Springer deal goes, we are already a step ahead of you on that one. We will have a post on that within the next couple of days. By the way, where was all of the outrage when Bertelsmann was out buying up television stations and new publications? Oh, that's right, they aren't conservative.

(And by the way, Mr. Wulff is not running for national office in this election. If and when he does try to become Chancellor, I am quite sure that the media will pull out the long knives though.)

[Atlanticus]

I agree with a lot of what "Ray D" and "Dr. Edi S." are saying in the two previous comments.

The German media and public is biased against the US. Therefore it's great to have a watchblog like Davids Medienkritik. A watchblog is not expected to give an objective analysis of the entire German media. A watchblog's mission is to investigate and highlight mistakes/bias/etc..

Having said that, I understand Edi's concern that "Too often, though, you fail to give your non German-speaking readers an adequate picture of the real situation."

I guess, that Edi thinks you are far more than a watchblog and that you got an obligation as the world's leading blog on German media coverage of the US.

Do you feel such an obligation or do you "just" want to be a watchblog?

Ray D wrote: "As far as our non-German speaking readers go, we think they are smart enough to figure out what is going on in the German media."

How should they do that, if they don't speak German? Aren't you providing an essential service to your non-German speaking readers, who *strongly rely* on Davids Medienkritik to learn about the German media coverage of the US?
With great power comes great responsibility... :-)

Ray D wrote: "We are about calling for reasonably fair coverage of the United States and conservative Americans in the German media. Clearly, there is a widespread negative bias in that regard that stifles meaningful transatlantic dialogue and understanding."

I think (and apparently Edi does so too) that you could also promote transatlantic dialogue and understanding if you would more often mention or summarize German media articles that describe the US positively and criticize anti-American statements by German politicians etc.

Though I'd understand, if you lack the time to do so, since great power does not always come with more free time :-) And, as I said in the beginning, this is not the job of a watchblog. Moreover, most articles in the German media are negative and/or biased indeed and it is necessary to highlight this bias.

[RayD]

@ Atlanticus:

We are first and foremost a watchblog. Because we are only two people (with families and jobs who depend on meager donations to keep the site running) and not a massive media concern with enormous resources and hundreds of employees, it is impossible for us to cover everything in the German media and society. So our focus is the bias that is highly prevalent and relevant to deteriorating transatlantic relations. I do believe that our readers are intelligent enough to understand that. If you disagree with our approach and want to write an article you think is necessary to balance things out, please feel free to email me your work. We'd love to have the input of someone intelligent and thoughtful.

[TM Lutas]

The US has a similar election cycle coverage bias. Election campaigns start earlier and earlier but the public typically pays serious attention starting on Labor Day (early September). During the summer the Republicans get good press and the Democrats get bad press. Around Labor Day and through the rest of the campaign, the pattern reverses. The bias effect is clear but if you merely tote up stories, there is no bias.

I think that this campaign will be very educational for ordinary germans. The left-wing press will risk so much credibility on Schroeder that it will likely wake up some ordinarily apolitical people as well as decent centrists and mild center left people who will see the spectacle for what it is, political activism masking itself as objective journalism. The end result is falling circulation, alternative media springing up and overtaking the old guard, and a rejuvenated society.

God speed

[tebox]

Help, even "the economist" took sides for Schröder, damn those leftist media!

http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/0,1518,370313,00.html