Why do they call it “Lügenpresse” in Germany? German media amplify “boos” at Trump speech

An original translation by Ava Lon and Egri Nok with much thanks!

From this German publication

Volume of boos during Trump’s Davos speech turned up by German TV

Tagesschau boosted boos for Donald Trump

The boos should be heard clearly: The Tagesschau admits a tone change in a report about Donald Trump. Critics speak of an impermissible manipulation.

The ARD openly admits the change: at the end of a post about Donald Trump, which the Tagesschau published on Twitter, the sound level was turned up higher. The reason: Boos against the US president should be strengthened.

Trump spoke last Thursday at a press conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos about a “nasty, mean, vicious, fake press”, and for that he was booed by people who were present in the hall. But the boos weren’t loud enough for the newscast.

“(and it wasn’t until I became a politician that I realized how) nasty, mean, vicious, fake (the) press (can be)” is the original quote, so Tagesschau just excerpted the five words without context.]

Tagesschau explains its approach

“Yes, we indeed increased the volume a bit in the end so that one can hear the boos. Only in doing so, we were able to reflect what our correspondents had reported on. The microphone recorded mainly Trump, and not so much of the crowd-noise in the hall,” the Tagesschau explained their approach in a Twitter message.

Yes, we indeed increased the volume a bit in the end so that one can hear the boos. Only in doing so, we were able to reflect what our correspondents had reported on. The microphone recorded mainly Trump, and not so much of the crowd-noise in the hall.]

But critics accuse the ARD flagship of improper manipulation. “You know what? You confirm exactly what Trump accuses you all of,” a user commented on Tagesschau’s procedure. Another joked: “But then you make the boos a little quieter at the next Merkel appearance. That’s how we know you and love you.”

The editor-in-chief of the Bild newspaper, Julian Reichelt, also sounded the charge and tweeted to the Tagesschau’s boss: “The Tagesschau ‘help a little’ so that boos against Trump become louder and clearer. Clear crossing of boundaries for a news format, dear Kai Gniffke. And difficult to imagine you would have done the same had it been applause.

The @tagesschau “help a little” so that boos against Trump become louder and clearer. Clear crossing of boundaries for a news format, dear @KaiGniffke . Difficult to imagine you would have done the same had it been applause.

573 Retweets 1,301 Likes]

Tagesschau’s editor-in-chief responds to critics

Gniffke didn’t want to leave it at that. He spoke up on Saturday afternoon with a statement on the Tagesschau website. In his blog post the ARD editor-in-chief again justified the change in volume after the speech with the acoustics in the hall, and also pointed out that the change was made transparent.

“If a reporter conveys the information that the US President was booed, then he has to prove it, and that’s what this tone is, it’s the original sound from the hall, nothing was invented, nothing was suppressed or manipulated,” writes Gniffke, and draws parallels to print media: “By the way, newspapers also make comparisons when they enlarge image sections and may even mark them with a red circle — nobody would come up with the idea of calling this manipulation, but rather journalistic precision.”

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

6 Replies to “Why do they call it “Lügenpresse” in Germany? German media amplify “boos” at Trump speech”

  1. Volume of boos during Trump’s Davos speech turned up by German TV

    Don’t any of these media wizards understand that such flagrant manipulation only serves to make Trump look like a beleaguered underdog? As in; someone who is unjustly persecuted and [gasp!] worthy of reelection?!?

    I have not a scintilla of pity for these underhanded maggots. Through their constant violation of journalistic ethics they, more than any other group, will get Trump seated in the Oval Office come 2020.

    Talk about 20:20 vision! Hah!

  2. Rather like the Farrage “moustache accident”. The one thing that the Left and the Nazis learnt well from islam is that there is no bottom to the depths they will drop.

    • The left and the Nazi’s

      The statement is redundant, the Nazi’s have always been a part of the left.

      • Take a piece of paper and write internaltional socialism on the left side of the paper, now write national socialism on the right side of the paper. Draw a line connecting them. You now have a picture of the common description of the political spectrum. Now if International Socialism is far left and National socialism is far right where does the classically liberal freemaket capitalism with its small limited government fit into the picture you have just drawn?