The German media’s reporting on the Frankfurt Newroz rally largely parroted police statements, lacking any on-the-ground journalistic investigation. Coverage highlighted the high attendance and resulting congestion, fines for logistical improvisations, and possession of banned symbols, without context or critique of official actions or policies.

German media’s one-dimensional coverage of Newroz celebration in Frankfurt

The coverage of the Newroz celebration in Frankfurt by mainstream German media presents a case study in how reliance on official sources, without independent verification or investigation, can lead to a one-dimensional narrative. Medya News scanned mainstream German news outlets (including Zeit, RTL, Hessenschau, Stern, and FR) and revealed that their coverage was no more than a reiteration of the police report. None of the checked outlets conveyed the political messages voiced by tens of thousands of Kurds gathered at Rebstockpark.

Drawing exclusively from police reports, media narratives focused on the high turnout—which was not inherently positive, as it caused traffic congestion—and fines for logistical choices made by the Kurdish community, such as dropping people off on the highway due to the lack of provided infrastructure.

Moreover, reports mentioned Kurds being fined for carrying flags with banned symbols, without elaborating on what these symbols were, why they were banned, or the legitimacy of such bans. This absence of context or inquiry into Germany’s criminalisation of Kurdish symbols, potentially at Turkey’s behest, suggests a clear gap in coverage.

Lastly, the outlets appeared to copy-paste the part of the police report comparing the Newroz celebration to a smaller pro-Palestinian demonstration earlier that day, without any justification or context for such a comparison, potentially minimising the significance of both events’ underlying issues.

The political messages and demands articulated by the Kurdish community at Rebstockpark, centred around the call for the liberation of Abdullah Öcalan and critiques of German-Turkish cooperation on the criminalisation of Kurds, were notably absent from the reports.

Instead, they uncritically conveyed the police report and informed their readers that no major incident was recorded at the event.

The German media, by echoing the police report almost word-by-word without additional investigation or questioning the official policies, seems to have missed a significant opportunity for comprehensive and critical journalism.