20260707 Bekenntnis zur "Staatsräson"

Commitment to “Reason of State”

At an event organized by the CDU-affiliated Konrad Adenauer Foundation on the topic of “Anti-Semitism and Media Coverage of Israel,” Thomas Hinrichs, program director of Bayerischer Rundfunk, demanded that his journalists commit to “reason of state.” What makes this particularly controversial is that Bayerischer Rundfunk, of all organizations, operates studios in Tel Aviv, Tehran, and Istanbul—meaning it is responsible for a significant portion of ARD’s foreign coverage from the Middle East.

Until now, we have generally assumed that “reasons of state” include a commitment to democracy, human rights, and international law. This also includes the right of the State of Israel to exist, as well as the inviolability of the borders surrounding the country. However, this must not restrict criticism of certain parties and members of the government.

At the very latest with the following statement on the panel discussion about the Gaza War, he clearly took sides: “They place children where there are weapons so that these children will be killed and people can then say: Look at those poor children! That is a fact.”
He failed to provide any evidence to support this claim. At least he defended Sophie von der Tann, the ARD correspondent in Tel Aviv, against accusations made by Felix Klein, the German government’s commissioner for anti-Semitism. The Israeli ambassador to Germany had also previously accused von der Tann of “activism,” according to Telepolis.de.

Nevertheless, Hinrichs’ statements leave one with the uneasy feeling that professional journalistic work is not desired, but rather that it should be subordinated to a “reason of state” that is not codified anywhere in law. As soon as political views and statements become more important than the truth, we once again approach the conditions and fears of the era of occupational bans in the 1970s in the former West German Federal Republic...

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