Patriotic Feelings: The Media Scene in the USA

The Chancellor on the way to a national press conference. Besieged by reporters. Organized chaos. Completely different in the USA. Here journalists stand up when the President comes. Overall: Everything is a touch more patriotic. Jeff Fager, US journalist: “In fact: Most of us are first of all Americans and only then journalists.”

So the news coverage on the Iraq war on many news broadcasters was almost comparable to a commercial ad for the US Army. The patriotic message of the journalists: “Our hearts are with you.” After the first bombs on Baghdad: Press conference in the Pentagon. The journalists are full of admiration over the attack. “Will we see another show tonight like we did last evening?” asks a reporter in the audience and after that his colleague: “Tony, another question on the show last night.” Even that goes too far for the Pentagon. A (female) speaker: “This is no show, this is no game and one should choose ones words carefully.” Reporters and soldiers fighting together on the front, side by side. Prof. Hans J. Kleinsteuber, media expert: "One the one hand we observe a dynamic in the USA that whenever the country finds itself at war, journalists really voluntarily refrain from critical reporting, so to say want to help in times of war so that no harm comes to the country.

USA – No Longer A Model in Matters of Freedom of the Press

And America was once considered the great model for journalism. Example Watergate: Two reporters from Washington uncovered a political scandal, the President at the time, Richard Nixon, gradually became caught-up in contradictions, lost his credibility and had to resign in the end. A great moment of investigative journalism. Also a model for the America correspondent of many years, Claus Kleber: “The American media were always, that is how they also understood it, a market place where everyone met. There opinions were exchanged. With Bush a piece of ideology has come into the government. It is more ‘Us against the rest of the world’.”

These journalists also belong to the rest. They have uncovered scandals, but refuse to name their informants to federal prosecutors. Now they are threatened with prison. Prof. Hans J. Kleinsteuber: “On the federal level there is nothing, when for example the federal attorney general is pursuing a case or the FBI is involved, there is no legal recourse with which to protect journalists from prison. Prison, that they are threatened with if they don’t reveal their informants.” Claus Kleber: “Unusually enough, in this country that has done so much for freedom of the press, there is no right to refuse to name sources for journalists. That is absurd. But it is so. And that has repeatedly led to journalists risking prison to protect their sources, something unimaginable in Germany.”

Manipulation from the Highest Level?

Equally unimaginable in Germany: The US media do not immediately show photos of American soldiers who have fallen in Iraq. For patriotic reasons. Only after a private individual published them on the internet, were they able to get through to the American press. Daniel Zwerdling, National Public Radio: “This government is highly skilled at manipulating its message. When the directive comes that no information is to be given on wounded in this war, then it stays secret. No one lets anything out.”

How large the influence of the Bush clan is in the entire country was also experienced by a German TV journalist. The Texas Rangers Stadium in Texas. Here began the career of Bush as a businessman. The club did not want to grant permission to film. Christoph Luettgert, NDR executive reporter: “When we made a request there we were told that we had to ask the White House for permission. I mean, that is an outrageous story. That would be something like if I wanted to film in the soccer stadium of FC Bavaria Munich and the club managers of Bavaria Munich would say to me I have to first call and ask at the Chancellor’s office in Berlin. I mean such an all-encompassing control, well such an all-encompassing censorship is unimaginable in Germany.”

Threats are a part of Daily Business

Daily journalist life in the USA: Are also attempts to intimidate informants. Daniel Zwerdling: “Many people no longer exercise criticism of the Bush government when with journalists. They are afraid to be arrested and interrogated. I never experienced such a thing earlier.”

Whenever the Bush’s make an appearance: A harsh manner on the part of the police. Daily life for American journalists. Something to get used to for German journalists. A misplacement of the camera by one meter from the assigned place – already almost a capital crime. Christoph Luettgert: “A policeman approached me and shouted at me: ‘When you try this here one more time, you will end up in jail.’ I wanted to make myself appear ridiculous, I wanted to start an argument with the policeman and another American journalist who noticed it really grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, pulled me out and said: ‘Listen up, you don’t understand the nuances here. He is serious!’”

And so the nuances of journalistic freedom in Germany are fundamentally broader than in the nation of endless possibilities. Christoph Luettgert: “I can really just say that I am happy to be a journalist in Germany and not America. That feeling that America is a police state in its treatment of journalists, that feeling is truly there, and that which I experienced there is unimaginable in Germany. Such a curt and rude treatment of journalists by the police in completely normal situations, such a blocking-off, such a clamping-down of informants, well that is highly unpleasant.”