Overview
- Journalists were attacked at the margins of counter-demonstrations to the AfD federal conference in Erfurt and a reporter team from Apollo News was among those targeted, with police opening investigations.
- In a BR ‘Sonntags‑Stammtisch’ segment Anja Kohl said the AfD “did not manage to publicly distance itself” from the attacks, a formulation critics say implied the violence came from AfD supporters.
- Critics also faulted the program for the absence of on‑air correction, noting that other panelists including the moderator did not publicly contradict Kohl during the broadcast.
- Bayerischer Rundfunk published a statement condemning attacks “regardless of which side,” said Kohl spoke as a freelance journalist and acknowledged the show lacked time to discuss the protests, but it did not issue an explicit factual retraction.
- The dispute has split coverage along political lines and sharpened debate over public‑broadcaster correction practice and the protection of reporters, which may prompt calls for clearer on‑air fact‑checking and editorial rules.