ALLIANCE FO§ DEMOCRACY

No Restraint

The Alliance for Democracy has reported on the criminal investigation of Netzpolitik.org journalists Andre Meister and Markus Beckedahl. They were accused of treason for reporting about plans by the German intelligence services to expand Internet surveillance, and even producing a staffing plan.
Treason is a serious crime that is punishable by at least one year in prison. It is defined as deliberately seeking to harm the country by betraying secrets. Beckedahl and Meister are journalists. Their job is to report and enlighten. There is no indication at all that they wanted to harm Germany. To accuse them of reason for doing their job is disgraceful, and investigating them is an attack on press freedom. The pursuit of a criminal charge by the head of intelligence services, Hans-Georg Maaßen, can only be defined as making false accusations, which is itself a crime. That is the real scandal.
For this reason, the Alliance for Democracy filed a criminal complaint against Maaßen, but it was not admitted. The Justice Department protects the intelligence services. That is the other scandal: A committee of inquiry was formed but found nothing.
Now, the German daily DIE ZEIT seizes the opportunity and reports in its 23 February edition (No. 9, p. 13-15) about documents supposedly passed to it by the state attorney general’s office proving that Justice Minister Heiko Maas “vehemently” halted the investigation. But Attorney General Range lost his job. Range was removed from office for publically denouncing political interference in the Justice Department. Heiko Mass has always denied this. This scandal is used as fodder for the press, i.e. Die Zeit , but Sabine Rückert, the reporter who wrote the article “Which One Lied?” ( Wer hat gelogen ), was apparently unable to understand and explain the complex issue, but only to report that one politician is lying, as though that were the scandal. Interference in the Justice Department is also a scandal. Maaßen and Maas have lost all restraint. One tries to do away with Netzpolitik.org, the other tries to do away with the Justice Department. Now, the Die Zeit article has brought to light an even worse scandal, perhaps the worst of all scandals: That there are two ways of reporting the news.
Netzpolitik.org works flawlessly to produce reports about questionable political activities that could involve the commission of a crime, while a so-called renowned newspaper such as DIE ZEIT merely reports that two men have a difference of opinion about something. These officials are responsible for maintaining the rule of law, and when they violate it the press is obliged to report it, which calls into question the ethics of the press.