Category: Edition 3-4/2025
Journalism Research, Vol. 8 (3-4), 2025
Policies of deterrence The impact of anti-Semitism resolutions on journalism in Germany
By Mandy Tröger | Since the German Bundestag passed the so-called »BDS resolution« in May 2019, the issue of anti-Semitism in Germany has not only been a subject of political and legal debates, but increasingly also of media discourse. The resolution, which condemned the BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) campaign against Israel and its settlement policy as anti-Semitic (German Bundestag 2019), is not legally binding. Still, according to the Bundestag cross-party initiative, it is intended to have a normative effect. The resolution has had a direct impact on public debates, for example through restricting public spaces to discuss the BDS campaign (cf. German Bundestag 2020: 4ff., Tröger 2019). Since then, similar resolutions at the federal level have reinforced this development.
Looking back – to see today The fight for the freedom of the press in 1733
By Gunter Reus | Historical analogies are always somewhat questionable. And yet, when reading the following text, it is difficult not to think of the current situation in the US. It was published in 1733 by the publisher, printer, and journalist John Peter Zenger (1697–1746) in the weekly newspaper New-York Weekly JOURNAL. The article was not written by him, but by one of his correspondents, who remained anonymous and was probably one of the democratically oriented authors of the Cato’s Letters distributed in Great Britain.
Attacks by the far right The impact of right-wing extremist threats on journalistic practice in Germany. An interview study
By Olivia Mangold | Journalists reporting on right-wing extremism are increasingly confronted with hostility, intimidation, and assault. This development endangers freedom of press and challenges fundamental democratic values. The qualitative study examines the evolution of right-wing extremist threats over the past five years and their implications for journalistic practice. It focuses on four journalists who reported in semi-structured interviews about repeated threats ranging from verbal abuse and legal intimidation to physical assaults. In response, the journalists developed various protective strategies, such as publishing anonymously, adapting their research methods, and exercising greater caution in topic selection. Despite their professional commitment to unbiased reporting, tendencies toward self-censorship and growing mistrust of state institutions became apparent. Thus, threats by right-wing extremists not only affect individuals but also structurally restrict press freedom. In order to counteract this, targeted protection measures, institutional support, and broader societal awareness are needed.
»It determined my everyday life, it makes you just afraid.« A socio-spatial investigation into the effects of freelance and local journalism on the far right in East Germany
By Michael Krell, Klemens Köhler and Tom Böhme | The emergence of the far right in Germany has resulted in an elevated risk for the safety of journalists covering this beat. Attacks on the press have escalated considerably since the rise of large-scale anti-asylum protests, such as PEGIDA, particularly in East Germany (cf. ECPMF 2017). Despite the fact that the media has repeatedly expressed dismay at the severity of violence against the press by far-right groups, there has been little academic discussion of this phenomenon to date. This article addresses this research gap by examining the impact of the far right on journalistic work and the professional and everyday lives of journalists. The main finding of this study is that freelance and local journalists, who are typically positioned at the ›front line‹ of reporting, are exposed to a diverse array of threats from the far right. Utilizing the spatial concept of performative and affective territorialization, hostility towards the press is analyzed in terms of its function as a spatialized form of far-right power seeking. The findings reveal the existential threat posed by hostility towards the press at the individual level to journalists and thus to press freedom as a whole.
Freedom of the press and right-wing extremism A dilemma? Theses on how journalists should deal with the AfD
By Horst Pöttker | The freedom of the press is regarded as a necessary but insufficient framework for social communication and democratic problem-solving. It is the task of journalists to fill this framework with appropriate content. Right-wing extremism is understood as the disregard of constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights, favoring instead ethnic unity and nationalist aggression. Journalists cannot effectively counter the threatening rise of right-wing extremism by ignoring it or expressing outrage. And treating the AfD like any other party leads to a problematic normalization of right-wing extremist statements and intentions. In contrast, a strategy of objective, fearless, concrete, and, at the same time, sober reporting on intentions and plans that violate fundamental rights, as well as their foreseeable consequences in the event that organizations such as the AfD come to power, can contribute to curbing right-wing extremism. In order to implement such a strategy, the repression of the Nazi past, populist tendencies in journalism, and the journalistic focus on political institutions must be overcome.
Media freedom in the shadow of right-wing extremism Challenges for Romanian journalists
By Iulia Bârză and Veronica Câmpian | This study examines the relationship between the far right and the media in Romania and highlights the associated tensions that influence journalistic work. The Romanian media system, which historically has been characterized by authoritarian control followed by rapid commercialization, is now facing considerable political pressure, fragile editorial independence, and limited economic stability. The article is based on comparative media system research, e.g. the typology of Hallin and Mancini (2004). To illustrate the current situation, two experienced journalists were interviewed. The journalists emphasize that far-right actors undermine press freedom not through open censorship, but rather through delegitimization, manipulation, and disinformation. The interviewees report hostile relationships characterized by intimidation, verbal aggression, and the exclusion of critical media. At the same time, social networks, the main channels for spreading extremist narratives, are weakening traditional journalism. Nevertheless, there are also signs of resilience: journalists are responding with mutual solidarity, thorough fact-checking, and a renewed commitment to fundamental democratic values. The study concludes that, while the far right creates a climate of intimidation, it also triggers collective resistance from journalists. In order to preserve the press as a democratic safeguard, stricter digital regulations, greater transparency, and the promotion of independent media are essential.
Journalism in the U.S. in times of crisis Interview with Jelani Cobb, Dean of the Columbia Journalism School
By Stine Eckert | On January 20, 2025 Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term as U.S. president, accelerating his aggressive attacks on journalists and universities, including those with journalism degrees, such as Columbia University. On March 10, Jelani Cobb, the Dean of the Columbia Journalism School and Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism, gave the 2025 Reuters Memorial Lecture, entitled »Trust issues. Credibility, credulity and journalism in a time of crisis« discussing that journalism has not yet found its footing to report on the Trump administration. In an interview with Wayne State University’s journalism scholar Stine Eckert on September 15, Jelani Cobb expounded on the thoughts he shared in the lecture and spoke about how U.S. news media handled the reporting on the killing of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk and how to cover government in repressive times.
The flâneur and his ›cannibal interviews‹ On the death of Georg Stefan Troller
By Siegfried Weischenberg | He discovered that he was ›born‹ to be a journalist only late in life, after an adventurous youth which had been forced upon the Viennese Jew by the vicissitudes of time. He became a ›media legend‹ primarily through his portraits of people he discovered on the streets of Paris. Georg Stefan Troller, who developed his own style of radio and later television interviewing, died there at the age of 103.
Must read: Books by journalists
Von Martina Thiele and Boris Romahn | The idea of presenting books by journalists to an interested specialist audience originated at the Vienna Institute for Journalism and Communication Studies. In 2002, Hannes Haas and Wolfgang R. Langenbucher put the idea into practice and published short reviews in the journal message, and later in the magazine Der österreichische Journalist. After Hannes Haas’ death in 2014, Fritz Hausjell took over. Since 2020, Journalism Research has been the place where books by journalists that are worth reading are discussed. Now, five years later, it is time for another change.