Protesters disrupt live TV interview with AfD leader
Every year, German public broadcaster ARD invites the German Chancellor and the leaders of the parties represented in the Bundestag to a summer interview on a terrace in Berlin's government district. This year the exchange with AfD leader Alice Weidel was disrupted by a group of loud demonstrators. Commentators criticise both the discourse on German television and the approach to countering the rise of the far-right party, which was classified as right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in May.
This is not balanced reporting
The Neue Zürcher Zeitung criticises Germany's public service media:
“Acoustically, it was quite difficult to understand what was being said in the 'summer interview' with AfD leader Alice Weidel at first, and then as it got to halfway it became virtually impossible. The culprit was a left-wing demonstration with a powerful loudspeaker system - against which the world's largest public broadcaster was unfortunately powerless. ... Every household in Germany currently pays 18 euros and 36 cents per month for ARD, ZDF and the associated host of public broadcasters and channels. Unfortunately, it can't be said that you get balanced reporting for your money. There may be some editorial teams that try to be politically neutral. But overall, the entire programme is heavily biased towards the left.”
Use arguments, not bans
Shouting and bans are not the way to counter the AfD, Kurier puts in:
“Opposing the AfD does not mean gagging it (unless it resorts to criminal verbal abuse). The same applies to the unspeakable ban proceedings that have been proposed. According to the vast majority of legal experts, they lack any legal basis. No, opposing the AfD means taking the party to task in a debate that also takes the more than ten million AfD voters - and their concerns - seriously. Anyone who finds that too tedious is out of place here. Anyone who hopes that the right-wing populist storm will blow over on its own is more than naive. And anyone who wants to fight the party with shouting and bans is doomed to fail.”