The outrage caused by the German interior ministry’s decision to ban the right-wing Compact magazine is not dying down as more and more legal experts weigh in on the subject. It is not surprising that lawmakers of the leftist-liberal government are pleased to see a government-critical media outlet silenced, but experts on constitutional law have made it clear that the ban amounts to nothing less than an attack on the freedom of the press.
As we reported, the interior ministry, led by Social Democrat Nancy Faeser, banned the Compact magazine on Tuesday, July 16th, for “inciting hatred” and “aggressively propagating the toppling of the political order.” Founder and editor-in-chief Jürgen Elsässer says the move to ban the anti-establishment publication without any legal grounds is a blow against press freedom, and that the government—not he—is the real enemy of the democratic order.
“There has never been such an extreme violation of press freedom in Germany. If Nancy Faeser remains in office, it says a lot about the government and its respect for the constitution, freedom and democracy,” tweeted constitutional law professor Volker Boehme-Neßle.
The ban on the magazine was done as though it were an association, not a media organisation. Banning an association is not so difficult because it is not protected by the freedom of the press. This was pointed out by Christoph Degenhart, former constitutional court judge in the state of Saxony, who told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that a ban on an association is unconstitutional when that association “is essentially based on press material, which is protected by fundamental rights, and therefore not punishable.” He said he had considerable doubts as to whether the ban would hold up in the constitutional court.
Constitutional law expert Ulrich Vosgerau told Junge Freiheit: “in a free constitutional state, fundamental rights are intended to enable citizens to express fundamental criticism of the political system.”
The former head of the Bundesverfassungsschutz, the domestic intelligence agency, Hans-Georg Maaßen called out the interior ministry for only going after right-wing organisations, not hard-left militant groups like Antifa that “openly call for crimes against people who are accused of being Nazis.” It is Nancy Faeser who is “damaging our free democratic order,” he tweeted. It is no coincidence, Maaßen goes on to say, that Faeser wrote for an Antifa magazine.
Media association Medienverband der freien Presse also took issue with the ban. Though they do not agree with most of the content published in Compact, they made it clear that “freedom of the press and freedom of opinion are central elements of any democracy, and its limits must not be defined politically, but are regulated by the Criminal Code.” Nancy Faeser, however, has not presented any violation of criminal laws by Compact.
The largest media association, the leftist Deutscher Journalisten-Verband, however, while questioning whether the state’s case is legally foolproof, says Compact “was never journalistic,” but “spread agitation and propaganda.”
The same association is also calling for its members to boycott the second largest party, the anti-globalist opposition Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Spokesman Hendrik Zörner says a party that is classified by the Bundesverfassungsschutz as a “suspected extremist organisation” should not be engaged in political discussions, and that their members should not be interviewed or given a platform in the media.
Conservative publication Apollo News notes that despite being a union dedicated to protecting the interests of its members, the Deutscher Journalisten-Verband likes to give its opinion on current political affairs. Before becoming spokesman, Hendrik Zörner worked for many years as an editor for the newspaper Vorwärts, published by the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and later worked for then-Prime Minister of Lower Saxony Sigmar Gabriel (SPD). Zörner’s statements come just a few weeks before three important state elections in eastern Germany which AfD is expected to win.
