Finding the perfect news source OR Why did ARD not cover the murder case of Maria?
I have always been skeptical about the information given in newspapers, television and thebinternet. In school and by my parents I was told „Glaube nicht an alles was in der Zeitung steht“/„Do not believe everything in the newspaper“. And my primary school teacher asked my class a crucial question: „Have you ever wondered why there are always just as many news stories happening in the world as fit into the newspaper?“ Well, sometimes, there is more happening than seems to fits into the newspaper or the news on TV. And sometimes, not covering a story is newsworthy and a strong message in itself.
As I got older and more interested in important events and politics, I started to search for good news sources to consume. To be honest, I still haven’t found any source that fully satisfies and meets my expectations.
There are some sources I think are ok and informative (CNN, NY Times, FAZ) and there are others I think are very bad (ARD, ZDF, NTV, …). But nevertheless the “ok” sources are not good enough. News coverage still seems manipulative, incomplete and one-sided.
I stopped consuming ARD and some other news sources after they opted against covering the sexual attacks in Cologne on new year’s eve 2015/16. For me as a young woman, this is a no-go. Sexual harassment, rape and robbery needs to be openly condemned and heavily discussed in our society no matter where the offenders are from.
Of course this news had strong political meaning and fired up a heavy public discussion but I strongly believe that a healthy democracy like Germany can bear a discussion like this. Different opinions must be named, discusses and argued on.
ARD and many other news sources still did not understand this, as we can see as they did not cover the murder case of a female student in Freiburg raped and killed by 17-year-old refugee from Afghanistan in the “Tagesschau”. They did not understand that in times of uncountable news sources available on TV and the internet, the discussion about uncomfortable topics will happen if they cover the news or not. The only thing that happens if they opt not to cover certain news is that they lose their integrity and popularity.
ARD explained that they did not cover the case as they only cover politics and not crime and added that murder is only of regional importance. A short research on their website shows that they predominantly cover politics but also cover stories about crime/ fear/scandals or topics of public interest such as culture, lifestyle and travel as well as topics of regional importance EVERY DAY. For example:
-murder-case “Peggy”
-murder-case “Elias and Mohammed”
-murder-case “Büsra”
-murder trial of Oscar Pistorius
-sexual harassment in Germany
-gang rape in Brasil
-gang rape in India
-sexual harassment case “Gina-Lisa Lohfink”
-shooting in Charleston
-EgyptAir Planecrach
-animal fat in 5-pound-notes
-hacker attack on yahoo
-how to invest your money in onion
-divorce-case in Britain
-new star wars movie
-fishing restrictions in northern Germany
-man who kicked woman down the stairs in the Berlin underground is identified
-Bocholts mayor resigns after shitstrom
-Christiano Ronaldo is footballer of the year
-man who killed policemen is sentenced to life in prison
-German success at the Golden Globes
-bad economy in the “Ruhrgebiet”
-longest tunnel of the world
-church collapses in Nigeria
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