Journalists used to be heroes for me. Especially those who uncover scandals. Now I think that scandals are partly to blame for the loss of trust in journalists. Because the reporting smells more like a campaign. But anyone who criticizes the media has to be careful, because they’re a little Trump.
I have discovered that I suffer from media skepticism. I am therefore suspicious of the media. And that is even more true as a journalist. I am not nearly as bad as other people who immediately fantasize about the most insane things.
Those who are convinced that the established media and politicians are working together to manipulate the public’s opinion, for example. Or, even more blatantly, believe that people are systematically lied to by the media. After all, I know from my daily life as a journalist that this cannot be true.
Julia Ruhs is a journalist, primarily at Bayerischer Rundfunk. She is part of the generation that seems to be bursting with climate activists, gender activists and zeitgeist supporters. She wants to give a voice to those who do not identify with them and often feel alone with their opinions. When everyone seems to think the same, she feels uncomfortable.
But I admit that I have developed a critical view of the media. Especially in the last few years. In the past, everything was actually fine with my media image and me.
At the time, I wanted to be an investigative reporter. One of those people who uncovers scandals. When I applied for a journalism scholarship a few years ago, I wrote this career aspiration in my application. For me, investigative journalists were heroes. People who bring the truth to light against an almost overpowering state – great. It sounded like a job in which you solve criminal cases with journalistic cunning and are much smarter than the police anyway.
Today, I see investigative journalism as a problematic discipline. It is partly to blame for robbing the journalists’ guild of what trust they still have. I have to admit that I was annoyed when I read that two investigations have now been awarded journalism prizes: the “Correctiv” and the Aiwanger leaflet investigations. For me, these are both examples of how not to do things. Because instead of investigation, it smells more like a meticulously planned campaign. Agenda journalism, with the aim of pushing a certain political direction.
“Correctiv” was the research center that uncovered the “remigration meeting” or “secret meeting” of politicians and right-wing extremists in a Potsdam hotel. It wasn’t actually that secret. And Hubert Aiwanger was (and is) the outspoken deputy prime minister of Bavaria who 35 years ago stashed an anti-Semitic leaflet in his school bag. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” assumed that he had probably written it. Both cases escalated into a right-wing extremism scandal. At least many people suddenly acted as if Aiwanger was a terrible anti-Semite with too much love for Hitler and that the Potsdam hotel guests were planning mass deportations of millions of foreigners. In my eyes, everything was much more harmless.
I’d like to explain why. “Correctiv” and I have a history. A few years ago, I really wanted to get a foothold in the investigative world, so I did an internship. I spent seven weeks at Correctiv in Berlin. I researched the AfD (of course) and illegal waste disposal within the EU. It wasn’t a bad time there. I admired the stamina the editors there had, their enthusiasm. I realized that I was lacking in this matter. It wasn’t quite my world.
When I saw a note on a noticeboard that said “left-wing, green, filthy and proud of it,” I realized part of my personal problem. And when I made the unpleasant mistake of saying that I wouldn’t mind if the CSU continued to have an absolute majority in Bavaria – it was about to die out at the time (it was 2017) – I still remember the horrified look on a colleague’s face.
Since then, I have believed that investigative journalism often thrives on inner political drive. On the fluid transition between journalism and activism. On wanting to change society or – as with the issue of right-wing extremism – to shake it up. The drive has to come from somewhere. The perseverance.
Hubert Aiwanger is threatening to co-govern Bavaria again? The AfD and right-wing extremists are on the rise? Some journalists are starting to dig a little more actively in places where it suits them politically. In order to use journalistic means to get rid of those they don’t like. At least that’s my impression now. That it’s all some kind of trick. I said, I’m a little suspicious of the media these days.
But at least I won’t be left looking stupid if things turn out differently than the journalistic observers imagine. I still feel great glee when I think back to the Bavarian state elections in 2023 and the bombastic result of the Aiwanger party. That only came about because the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” actually intended the opposite and wanted to belittle the Free Voters with the help of the leaflet affair. That was obvious from the articles and the publication strategy; I followed the case meticulously.
Similarly funny: Katharina Barley, the SPD’s top candidate, who was surprised at the AfD’s good result after the European elections. About why the “democracy movement” from the beginning of the year had not been more successful. She was referring to the demonstrations against the “right” in which thousands of people took to the streets, triggered by the “Correctiv” research. She was certainly not the only one; a few editors must have been surprised when the demonstrations were not reflected in the election results. And yet they had been drumming up so much praise.
The communications scientist Hans Mathias Kepplinger once said: You are only lost when the public believes in the scandal. Evidently, not the entire public believed in the two scandals. Especially not those who were tried to convert with the exaggerated scandalization. It’s a shame that we lost the feeling for them.
But you have to be a little careful with criticism of journalists. People are too quick to assume that you have a right-wing populist worldview. That you are just like Donald Trump, who also constantly insults the media. I often read that blanket criticism of the media is particularly popular with a “certain part of the population”. I always ask myself what kind of “certain part of the population” that is – the backward, the mentally confused, Dark Germany? And am I included in that?
My problem with some journalists is that they see themselves as enlighteners who stand above the rest of society. That’s why they like to try so much to guide people’s thinking in the right direction. But they overestimate themselves and their power. And the resentment that their arrogance triggers in many people. This is fed by the fact that the portrayal of reality in the media and the perception of reality by many people are now diverging.
Because I’m no longer so keen on investigative journalism, since I started working at Bayerischer Rundfunk I’ve mostly done the opposite. I call it “fast food journalism”. Which means: mainly up-to-the-minute reporting. One thing one day, a new topic the next, nothing investigative, no digging. You’re unlikely to win any journalism awards that way, but whatever. I actually quite like fast food anyway.
