Several leading German news organizations have gone to court over the decision by the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party to ban its journalists from election day events in the central German state of Thuringia.
The opinion magazine Spiegel, the newspapers Bild and Welt and the left-wing daily taz announced that they have filed a request with the court in Erfurt to order the Thuringian state party AfD to grant their reporters access.
The news organizations reported that press freedom was being restricted by the AfD’s decision to ban journalists from those organizations.
A court spokesman told dpa that the request had been received but that he could not yet provide a timetable for its processing.
Thuringia’s state parliamentary elections are scheduled for September 1, and polls show the AfD leading with about 30% of the vote. Domestic intelligence agencies have categorized the AfD in Thuringia as far-right.
Stefan Möller, co-chair of the AfD in Thuringia, told dpa that the decision on press access depended on the capacity of the event space.
“The one venue we have can hold 200 people, so that’s full. We’ve reserved 50 seats for the press and radio,” Möller said. “Somewhere we have to draw the line. Otherwise we can’t hold campaign events anymore if we can’t bring our own people, because we only have to accept journalists.”
He said the party would consider simply cancelling the election festival if the court ordered more journalists to be allowed access.
Torben Braga, spokesman for the Thuringian AfD, said the invitations to the election party had been sent to a small distribution list of journalists who regularly report on politics in the state of Thuringia and the Thuringian AfD.
“We have not invited any journalists from the national press,” he said, adding that they assumed there would be national journalists in Berlin or the eastern state of Saxony, where state parliamentary elections are also being held on the same day.
Möller did not want to reveal the exact location of the AfD election party, citing security concerns.
It is not the first time that media have gone to court over the decision of the Thuringian AfD to exclude journalists from events.
Last year, public broadcaster ARD had to take legal action to gain access to the AfD party congress. Despite this, the broadcaster’s journalists were cordoned off with ribbons and kept away from party delegates.
