Moscow recently banned Deutsche Welle from broadcasting. The news today was that the Federal Press Office had not invited the station to Chancellor Scholz’s upcoming trip to Moscow – until Scholz’s spokesman said otherwise. But what does that mean for journalists?
After the ban on broadcasting that Russia issued to Deutsche Welle, the Federal Republic of Germany’s foreign broadcaster, Chancellor Scholz’s spokesman made it clear that the broadcaster has been invited to the Chancellor’s upcoming trip to Moscow. “To avoid any misunderstandings: #DeutscheWelle has been invited to the Chancellor’s trip to Moscow,” explained Steffen Hebestreit on Twitter. The “Tagesspiegel” had previously reported that the broadcaster was not allowed to accompany Scholz.
The capital medium had referred to its own information and wrote that the press and information office of the federal government, under Hebestreit’s management, had given Deutsche Welle a refusal to participate in the Scholz trip. Meanwhile, the daily mirror his article updated.
On his trip to Moscow, the chancellor is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 15. The primary aim is to find a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine crisis. It is common for journalists from various media to accompany such trips and, for example, fly on a plane with ministers or the chancellor. It is not yet known how Deutsche Welle will proceed. Whether journalists will accompany the chancellor at all and if so, whether they will only do so until landing. With the ban on broadcasting, Moscow had announced the withdrawal of the accreditations of Deutsche Welle journalists in Russia.
Criticism of measures against journalists
However, according to the Tass news agency, a Russian authority spokesman had assured that Deutsche Welle journalists would be allowed to continue working in Russia without accreditation. However, this could mean that they can no longer enter certain places or government buildings for their reporting – or, in the case of a dispute with Russia about their reporting, can no longer refer to their accreditation as journalists.
The ban on broadcasting and the forced closure of the Deutsche Welle office in Moscow triggered a storm of indignation in this country. The German Association of Journalists (DJV) condemned the ban on broadcasting. The Minister of State for Culture and Media, Claudia Roth, described the DW broadcasting ban as “in no way acceptable”. While RT DE broadcasts without a license and has not applied for a license, Deutsche Welle is now having an existing license withdrawn.
According to Moscow, the action against Deutsche Welle is a measure in the dispute over RT DE, which started as a broadcaster in Germany in December. The Commission for Licensing and Supervision of Media Authorities had recently banned the distribution of the television program due to a lack of a broadcasting license. According to official German information, this had not even been applied for.