“Daily issues”: Journalist, active in the Greens, is no longer allowed to comment on everything

media Detlef Flintz

Active in the Greens – journalists are only allowed to comment on “daily topics” to a limited extent

Status: 11:48 a.m | Reading time: 2 minutes

The journalist on the ARD “Tagesthemen” once commented on the price shock for oil and gas with the words “Well done!”. The fact that Detlef Flintz (WDR) privately holds an office with the Greens has only just become known. West German Broadcasting is now responding.

EYou can still say your opinion – but not on every topic: After public criticism, West German Broadcasting (WDR) limits the use of a journalist on the ARD “daily topics”. The reason is his political commitment to the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen party, which has now become known.

On social media it was question has been raisedhow independent the WDR journalist Detlef Flintz is when he comments on energy issues, for example.

In a “Tagesthemen” comment from October 2021, for example, Flintz said on the subject of inflation: “It’s here, the price shock – that’s good”. This is the only way, the editor went on to explain, that consumption would be reduced, which in turn would benefit the environment. A video recording of the opinion piece, which also disapprovingly states that “like junkies, we are getting cheap fossil raw materials again,” has been circulating on social media for months.

As recently became known, Flintz is private secretary on the board of the Greens in Grevenbroich in North Rhine-Westphalia – a detail that critics on Twitter, among others, had pointed out. A connection that should not have been known to TV viewers.

The “Rheinische Post” first reported on the consequence that the public broadcaster now drew. The local political commitment of the colleague was not known to the WDR, it said.

The most important criterion is credibility

The WDR itself told the dpa: “In the knowledge of the local political commitment of the colleague, we will also orientate himself in his case to our code of conduct. As a result, we will no longer suggest him for opinion pieces on topics that could give the impression of bias.” The station emphasized: “Our most important yardstick is our credibility and independence.”

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Flintz, born in 1958 and a graduate economist, is currently the editor-in-chief of the WDR magazine “Markt”, and he is also the head of the program group in the fields of economics and law.

Also not known to the general public: Flintz also trains young journalists at the media academy of ARD and ZDF. The next (paid) courses are planned for May 2023, as the Twitter channel “ÖRR Blog” researched. Teaching should not be affected by the current WDR decision.