HAMBURG. The Hamburg Regional Court has banned the “Tagesschau” from continuing to spread false information about the so-called secret meeting in Potsdam. The court confirmed a previous decision of the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court in July, against which the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), which is responsible for the editorial and production of the Daily News is located, had lodged an objection. The district court has now rejected the objection.
Specifically, it concerns the false claim by the “Tagesschau” that the meeting in Potsdam had discussed the expulsion of German citizens and the withdrawal of citizenship based on racist criteria. The most-watched German news program had spread this claim based on a report by the “Correctiv” platform. At the request of the lawyer Ulrich Vosgerau, who had attended the meeting in Potsdam, the “Tagesschau” was prohibited by the Higher Regional Court in July from sticking to the claim.
Vosgerau criticizes “news blackout” in major media
The Höcker law firm, which represents Vosgerau in the proceedings, announced after confirmation by the regional court: “The NDR unsuccessfully argued that the `Correctiv` report was the source of its false report, quote: ‘The understanding that the Potsdam meeting also discussed the expulsion of German citizens was also conveyed by the `Correctiv` report.’ The NDR thus admits that the `Correctiv` report contains misleading assessments and that these led to the false report in the `Tagesschau`.”
In the proceedings, the NDR argued, among other things, that a court ban was “out of place in the public debate on current socio-political issues” and that there was no legitimate reason for courts to “interfere in a public debate with bans,” the law firm continued. Höcker’s lawyer Carsten Brennecke said: “It is astonishing that the NDR, which as a public news medium should stand for serious reporting, is questioning the decisions of independent courts and viewing them as an interference in the public debate.”
Vosgerau himself criticized that many media outlets are still not prepared to fundamentally correct their false reports about the meeting in Potsdam. “The narrative of ‘Correctiv’ has been refuted for months. Anyone who gets information from the alternative media knows that. But the major media outlets have imposed a kind of news blackout on this fact and to this day leave their readers and viewers in the false belief that all the misrepresentations resulting from the insinuations and apparent facts were correct,” he explained to JUNGE FREIHEIT. (dh)
