DISINFO: German media organises a "real witch-hunt" against Russian media in Germany

The German government has rejected accusations against the German media. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert reacted to accusations that had spoken of a state campaign against Russian foreign media in Germany. "Anyone who makes such absurd allegations in the world has little knowledge of Germany and little idea of freedom of the press," said government spokesman Seibert. The chief editor of t-online Florian Harms, debunked the accusations: "It goes without saying that we are neither state-controlled nor do we 'persecute' Russian media. We report independently and thoroughly but critically on the influence of the Russian media and the Russian state in Germany. It's obvious that some people in Russia don't like this." In the past, various and numerous German media and the German Journalists' Association [DJV] has criticised individual Russian broadcasters for the way they work. The head of the German Journalists' Association, Frank Überall, commented on the accusations in a press release issued on January 31, 2018: "There is no campaign against Russian foreign media in Germany, only unanimous criticism from different sides of their working methods." In November 2016, the European Parliament adopted a comprehensive resolution defining the European Union's "strategy to combat EU propaganda". The EU notes that media such as Sputnik or RT poses a threat. Similar cases: UN resolution is yet another act of the West's anti-Russian campaign, RT faces repression in the US and it will lose its status as a media, The official News Agency of Slovakia (TASR) suspended the cooperation with Sputnik News as a result of pressures from the Slovak government. Further reading: On tools for disinformation On election meddling