Thuringia: Media want to sue for access to AfD electoral party

Many journalists should not be allowed to reach an AfD election party on Thuringia's election day. Your media companies do not want to accept this and are suing. And this is not the first problem between the AfD and the press.

Several media companies are resisting the exclusion of their journalists from the AfD on Thuringia election day. The news magazine Der Spiegel, the Springer brands Bild and Welt, and the left-wing daily Taz have independently announced that they have jointly applied to the Erfurt regional court for an interim injunction against the AfD in Thuringia.

The houses see that freedom of the press is being restricted. At the request of the German Press Agency, the regional court confirmed receipt of the press houses' application. At the same time, it said: “Unfortunately, no more detailed information about the timing is available at the moment.”

This is not the first time that judges have had to deal with the exclusion of journalists from AfD events.

The AfD points to limited space

When asked by the German Press Agency, the AfD presented the situation as follows: “The only place we had for 200 people was full. We gave 50 places to the press and radio,” said Stephan Müller, co-chair of the AfD in Thuringia. “We have to draw the line somewhere. Otherwise we don't need to hold any more campaign events if we are no longer allowed to bring our own people because we only have to accept journalists.”

The party says it is still keeping the location of the AfD central election secret for security reasons.

The Alternative for Germany party in Thuringia is considered a far-right party.

On September 1, Thuringians will elect a new state parliament. The AfD is entering the race with front-runner Björn Höcke. In recent polls, the party is in first place. Values ​​around 30 percentThe state's Office for the Protection of the Constitution classifies the AfD in Thuringia as decidedly right-wing extremist.

If the courts force the AfD to allow more journalists to join the election party, they will consider cancelling the event, Müller said. The invitations to the election party were sent to a small distribution list of journalists who regularly report on Thuringian state politics and the AfD in Thuringia, said Torben Braga, the AfD’s press spokesman in Thuringia.

Not the first exclusion of the AfD partyEvents

As others reported. “Journalists from the federal press (…) we did not invite because we assumed they were in Berlin or Saxony.” However, no AfD election party is scheduled to take place in Berlin this time.

It happens time and again that media companies complain that they are not allowed access to AfD events, and as a result the courts intervene. There was a prominent case at the end of 2023, when the AfD in Thuringia I want– Political magazine a screen Denied access to the state party conference.

After some legal moves they got it. a screen-Team still had access in the end. But at the party conference, journalists had to work in an area separated by police tape and did not have free access to the delegates' area.