Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Network long ago abandoned the pretense of being a legitimate news source and instead became the propaganda outlet for the most reactionary forces within the Republican Party. Now Fox is riding the right-wing populist wave of the Tea Party and is well-positioned to see a spike in viewership as we approach the 2012 presidential election.
Der Spiegel's cover story this week is an attack on Europe's biggest daily newspaper (in terms of circulation) and its role in fomenting right-wing populism in Germany. In other words, BILD has become Germany's Fox News Network:
Immer wieder Hymnen auf Verteidigungsminister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, 39, – egal, wie massiv er bei seiner Doktorarbeit gemogelt hat. Immer wieder Elogen auf Thilo Sarrazin, 66, – egal, wie populistisch seine Thesen gegen muslimische Immigranten sind. Der politische Standort der „Bild“-Zeitung, rechts von der Mitte, ist von jeher eindeutig. Neu ist allerdings, dass ihre Macher glauben, ihr Blatt markiere die gesellschaftliche Mitte. Ein Team von SPIEGEL-Redakteuren überprüfte die ethischen Standards und die journalistische Qualität der größten europäischen Tageszeitung und kam zu einem wenig schmeichelhaften Urteil: Das Springer-Blatt, so SPIEGEL-Reporter Ullrich Fichtner, 45, spiele „die Rolle einer rechtspopulistischen Partei, die es in Deutschland noch nicht gibt“. Aus Rücksicht auf die bis zum vorvergangenen Wochenende in Iran inhaftierten „Bild am Sonntag“- Kollegen hielt der SPIEGEL das Stück zurück, es galt, jedes Risiko diplomatischer Komplikationen zu vermeiden. Der Fall Guttenberg gibt dem Fall "Bild“ nun eine neue Wendung
("Always heaping praise on Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg - no matter how much he plagiarized his doctoral dissertation. More accolades for Thilo Sarrazin - no matter how populistic his ideas about Muslim immigrants are. The political standpoint of BILD - right of center - has always been clear. What is new is that its bosses now see the paper as staking out the center. A team of Spiegel editors have analyzed the ethical standards and journalistic quality of Europes largest daily and have come to a less than flattering conclusion: The Springer paper, in the words of Spiegel reporter Ullrich Fichtner, "has taken on the role of a right-wing populist party, which does not yet exist in Germany." Spiegel held this piece back to avoid any risks of diplomatic complications until the situation with the colleague from BILD in Iran was resolved. The case of Guttenberg gave new impetus for the BILD story.")
"A right-wing populist party, which does not yet exist in Germany" - could BILD be paving the way for a German Tea Party to the right of Angela Merkel's CDU?
Ever since Schroeder came into office, the direction of our political landscape as well as the attitude of the electorate changed in a promising way. The entanglement by the past has weakened ever since.
Only among the media, this development has not been represented. Until now it seems. I should take a look into Bild.de more often :-)
After all, it is always interesting what stance Europe's biggest tabloid assumes on controversial topics.
Posted by: Zyme | February 27, 2011 at 08:44 AM
Eloquent criticism against BILD in an open letter from Judith Holofernes, lead singer of "Wir sind Helden":
http://www.bildblog.de/28264/wir-sind-helden-wollen-nicht-fuer-bild-werben/
Posted by: KarlMai | February 27, 2011 at 09:04 PM
You'll never have a direct analogy to the Tea Party without the US system of open primaries, or something like it. I think under the German system it would be very hard for a populist movement, even one with substantial media support, to so rapidly gain influence inside a large, established party.
Posted by: John in Michigan, USA | February 28, 2011 at 06:22 PM
面白いです
Posted by: ルイヴィトンバック | May 14, 2012 at 02:15 AM