The “Framing Manual” and Bias in German Media: Hungarian Ambassador Exposes ZDF – Berlin Direct Interview

As is well known, “framing” is everything at the public broadcasting family. At the latest when an internal document became public, which was the infamous “framing manual” advising how one should “classify” certain facts ARD and ZDF their reputation away. “Framing” works especially when media supremacy is so great that the information can be contained. The overwhelming ÖRR information is then the dominant one because it is widespread and no other information can be countered in this mass frequency.

Such a system works particularly well when there is no comparison with foreign countries, because access to foreign news usually comes via the device itself. This is a system that may have worked in the 1970s, but is eroding in the face of matching capabilities on the Internet with just a few clicks. And it is a system that is vulnerable when those affected who could previously be silenced through ignorance suddenly become widespread elsewhere. This not only affects ordinary people – but also sometimes the ambassador of a foreign country.

As is well known, Hungary is one of the countries that has had negative undertones in Germany for years. You can currently see what exemplary democracy looks like in Poland: German media are full of burning love for the media coup in the neighboring country, as the authoritarian reshuffle is finally bringing democracy. One could fall into the heretical idea that everything couldn’t have been bad in Poland before if the political forces so fueled by the German media even had the chance to bring about a peaceful change of government in a democratic election, but narratives are not supposed to portray anything; they should propagate.

A letter from the Hungarian Ambassador Péter Györkös this week shows that the local media not only welcomes the questionable event in Warsaw, but also has exactly the same political bias that they accuse others of. He had that ZDF-Store “Berlin direct” gave an interview for the December 17th broadcast. It lies THE in its entirety and comprises one and a half pages. Overall, that represents ZDF five questions for the ambassador, which he answered in great detail. Quote from the letter:

In fact, only two sentences were taken out of this interview. They support the “framing” of the ZDF, that Hungary represents a security risk for Europe – this is the accusation of the ambassador, who is not only misquoted, but whose statement is presented incoherently and thus appears more radical than it was. At least that’s what Györkös complains in a letter to editor-in-chief Bettina Schausten. By the way, it’s not the first time, as Peter Frey and Thomas Bellut received mail from Györkös for similar reasons.

In his new letter, Györkös not only presents Hungary’s opposing position in detail, which was hidden in the finished clip. He also points out that Germany itself is a security risk for Europe with its immigration policy. Likewise, Hungary would aim for NATO’s 2 percent target “without any budgetary tricks.”

The case not only sheds a special light on German reporting, especially in this explosive time of “media change” in neighboring Poland and the position of the German media on this. It takes a fair amount of arrogance to put an official representative of another country in the position you need to maintain your own “framing”. If in doubt, German overreach extends to Hungarian embassies. Everything is done to ensure that the image of Hungary remains the way German viewers should perceive it. Needless to add: This process does not only apply to Hungary.

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2023-12-26 15:32:26
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