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Zurich15355 Posts
BILD and Fear
This will be a rather short issue of my series about Germany and will picture (haha) the role the tabloid BILD had in presenting the Japan earthquake and nuclear crisis to the German public.
BILD is by far Germany's biggest daily newspaper with a circulation of close to 3 mio. Basically you can not go to a news stand in Germany without being presented with the BILD cover. For comparison, the next biggest national daily, the Sueddeutsche, sells about 600k.
Here are, in succession, the covers of BILD since last week, with some translation added:
+ Show Spoiler [Mar 12] +![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/5V4C0.jpg)
HORROR-QUAKE
More than 1000 dead in Japan
Nuclear Alert after Tsunami
Entire Cities Devastated
Damages in the Billions
Fear of After Quakes
+ Show Spoiler [Mar 13] +![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/YVkb6.jpg)
PRAY FOR JAPAN!
Nuclear catastrophe after Tsunami
Fear of GAU (= MCA = maximum credible accident, a abbreviation everybody knows in Germany) 10 German technicians rescue themselfs from the reactor
Chancellor Merkel: All German nuclear plants to be examined
+ Show Spoiler [Mar 14] +![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/QuQ33.jpg)
NUCLEAR HORROR!
Meltdown in nuclear plant
At least 2 reactors in Japan out of control
370000 people evacuated
+ Show Spoiler [Mar 15] +![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/Wgglx.jpg)
HERE THE NEXT NUCLEAR REACTOR EXPLODES
And Angela Merkel announces Change (in Nuclear policy)
(Great also the nicely placed Aspirin ad)
+ Show Spoiler [Mar 16] +![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/bqaNl.jpg)
ESCAPE FROM THE DEATH ZONE
Nuclear reactor out of control
Explosion rips apart reactor hull
Radioactivity is leaking out unhindered
Tens of thousands on the run
Panic over radioactive cloud in Tokio
(Ad for Kaercher high pressure industrial cleaner)
+ Show Spoiler [Mar 17] +![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/9IPKj.png)
WITHIN THIS JUNK THE NUCLEAR HELL IS BOILING
Parliament is commemorating Japan victims
While this is 100% typical reporting by BILD and was to be expected, the reporting from every single other German outlet is outright embarrassing. Even the most respected papers and news channels have been barely a step above BILD these days. I had to read in papers which are considered the best in Germany that "a nuclear explosion is not impossible", a "2nd Chernobyl impending", "Tokio in panic after 100x usual dose of radiation" etc etc.
Combine this with the most important elections this year just a week off, and the polls being as close as it gets, you can maybe understand the panic-struck knee jerk reactions our sorry government displays a little bit better.
http://www.bild.de/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_newspapers (Somewhat outdated figures)
Random bits of knowledge about Germany
Ep3: Stereotypes
Ep2: Sauna
Ep1: Small Talk
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It's a weird feeling, when you realize that you cannot trust your very own media, and I'm not talking about BILD which isn't a reliable news source anyway...
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Ah gut! Ich muss mehr Deutsch lernen.
Thanks for this! I read a couple of your other blogs. I'm learning German right now (in my second semester) and it's good to have more reading practice. I have an exam today in about four and a half hours o_O
It's interesting how anti-nuclear Germany is. Has that always been the case?
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Zurich15355 Posts
On March 17 2011 20:26 wherebugsgo wrote:
It's interesting how anti-nuclear Germany is. Has that always been the case?
There is a very strong anti nuclear movement in Germany, yes. Obviously it has not been quite like today before the Japan thing, but it's always been there.
That is not to say that the majority has always been categorically against nuclear power. That is a rather new development (I'd say since the 90ies but would have to check).
Maybe I'll make a post about the whole German nuclear debate in general in the future, but that entire topic is a minefield full of misconceptions and lies from both sides.
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Germans have a large history with protesters against nuclear power plants. It has been a political theme again in the past few years because of alternative sources for electricity. And now with the big crisis in Japan it's back on top of all kinds of agendas and german politicians seem under pressure to react properly regarding upcoming elections, like OP mentioned.
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It's quite similar in Austria. The Kronen Zeitung reaches about 3 million readers daily (out of an 8 million population) and is therefore proportionally one of the most successful newspapers in the world. To be fair, it is perhaps slightly better than Bild, but is known for extreme bias and exerting an influence on politics. Why is it always the worst quality newspapers which are read most?
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I have yet to find a traffic light in the city without a "no castor transports" sticker on it. Many germans are very anti-nuclear-power, though it's mostly because of one reason about which the OP should make a post:
Germans are addicted to complaining, if there is nothing to complain about then they use anything they can find and complain about it.
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On March 17 2011 20:26 wherebugsgo wrote:
Ah gut! Ich muss mehr Deutsch lernen.
Thanks for this! I read a couple of your other blogs. I'm learning German right now (in my second semester) and it's good to have more reading practice. I have an exam today in about four and a half hours o_O
It's interesting how anti-nuclear Germany is. Has that always been the case?
I believe German anti-nuclear sentiments can be traced back to the 60s-70s when the Grand Coalition was in power. The Grand Coalition was the Christian Democrats (right wing party) and the Socialist Party (left wing). You can see the problem of having the whole political spectrum in power, their is really no way to oppose the government. If you don't like the policies on the left, well voting for the right will basically give you the same thing. Anyways, the Germans needed some outlet to express their opposition- and this came outside of the political realm. The Green movement, specifically against nuclear energy was a result of this. I believe it began in more rural areas, not as a political force, but just as an opposition to nuclear power, and eventually expanded to political expression.
So yeah, I find it interesting in how generally speaking Germany's aversion to nuclear power can be traced back to the rise of Fascism. The political system was designed to limit the control of any one group, but in the end you got to much cooperation (lol), and no options, which spawned opposition outside the parliament. This is really apparent if you read through the nuclear power discussion thread, their are almost no Germans who support nuclear energy.
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I'm staggered. No wonder families of foreigners in Japan are so panicking. That's just amazing.
Thanks for the post.
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I hate BILD....I really hate it, everyday on the train you see like every third person carrying this piece of sh*t """"newspaper"""".. baaaaah filth!_i
sorry but there are just two things in german media I hate so much I tend to rage about it.. (rtl, bild)
But yeah, in general the media coverage was poor (gently put) and was part of the reason
geiger counters and iodine pills (?) are/were sold out here... ridiculous.
As for the Anti-Nuclear Movement, I think it's been here since the 70's or something, I know my parents demonstrated back then and afaik the political party "Die Grünen" formed with that or something like that, I'm not too sure about that.
edit: almost forgot sorry: nice blogs zatic 
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On March 17 2011 20:26 wherebugsgo wrote:
Ah gut! Ich muss mehr Deutsch lernen.
Thanks for this! I read a couple of your other blogs. I'm learning German right now (in my second semester) and it's good to have more reading practice. I have an exam today in about four and a half hours o_O
It's interesting how anti-nuclear Germany is. Has that always been the case?
Nuclear power is in a pretty similar situation to what you have in the US. The construction of new power plants was stopped decades ago and there were no power plants built after the 1980s. Wikipedia says nuclear power plants in the US produce "19.6% of the nation's total electric energy consumption in 2008". In Germany it is about 25 %. Most of the electricity is produced through black coal, brown coal and gas power plants. This is probably also pretty similar to the US. When there are no exceptional circumstances like the disaster in Fukushima at the moment, most protesters are locals protesting against facilities of the nuclear industry in their respective area.
Majority of voters are against building new nuclear power plants and the politicians never had to go against that because there simply is no need (not like in France with its 80 % of electricity produced through nuclear power). After the license of the old power plants runs out, that will be it for nuclear power in Germany. I'm not sure if there really is more fear of nuclear power in Germany compared to other countries. It could be, the consensus is that the economy can work without, so the headache of arguing about it is not worth it, and demonstrations are there to make sure the politicians do not start to get weird ideas.
Also, the Green political party gets pretty high results in elections in some areas. For example the electoral district where I live, the result was over 25 % for the Greens, I think.
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Germany2896 Posts
Well at least Bild is reporting about a news worthy topic for a change. Usually we get the same exaggerations about a completely irrelevant topic.
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On March 17 2011 22:01 MasterOfChaos wrote:
Well at least Bild is reporting about a news worthy topic for a change. Usually we get the same exaggerations about a completely irrelevant topic.
How right you are. I remember when i first moved to the south, were the BILD is spread far more than in the north (looks like we people north of hamburg prefer cold, hard facts) i saw the BILD reporting about Hitler and the development of flying saucers on his orders in WW2. I now just tune the BILD out, i don't even see it anymore (though i can also thank the fact that i moved back to the north for it).
It's exactly the kind of newspaper i absolutely loathe - hate isn't even a strong enough word for it.
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The most scary thing about the BILD is that it is so popular.
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These German newspapers seem to be REALLY good at fearmongering. They make Fox News look unbiased.
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I used to buy BILD for trolling purposes, but then I realised I was giving money to some of the most genuine dickheads of central europe, so I stopped.
These German newspapers seem to be REALLY good at fearmongering. They make Fox News look unbiased.]
This is true for Bild and some TV stations, but the death of old media isn't as imminent in Germany as in the states. Generally speaking, if you want critical and factual reporting, you can get it pretty easily.
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Mensch! Bild is eine der schlechten Nachrichten, die ich hab' je gelesen; sie ist auch aber ganz übertrieben. Warum mögt ihr sie denn?
Je mehr Leser eine Nachricht hast, desto voreingenommener wird sie sein.
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BILD truly is a sad part of Germany.
Many important things have been said already. I'd like to add two things.
First, BILD is dangerous. They're frequently publishing articles that violate journalistic principles, but there's a lack of consequences for this in the german law and they get away with it every single time. This includes publishing of names, personal data, pictures and information regarding the family of victims of crimes or alledged criminals. The highest german "media council" then forces BILD to publish that they've been reprimanded for this, and they're either printing that in fine print on page 17, or they use it to openly mock and manipulate even more ("we're being kept from writing the truth!" etc.).
Second thing is that they currently have an ad campaign running (for a few months now) where they're basically ridiculing themselves. Various celebreties are asked for their opinion on the paper, they print/send it regardless of whether it's praise or disapproval.
And it's brilliant, I have to admit. They're basically showing the finger to all critics with ads that allow both good and bad opinions; it's a clever play on their slogan "BILD dir deine Meinung" (a pun involving the paper's name and the phrase "make/get your on opinion"). And those that actually use BILD as source of information see their favorite paper publishing it and dismiss all criticism regarding biased reporting.
BILDs sales are dwindling, though. For the last decade or so they've sold less each year and I hope it stays that way. You can't stop some people from being susceptible to this kind of media, but the media itself is made by people smart enough to manipulate opinions and sell it as a story; and if there's one thing that hurts them, it's money.
![[image loading]](http://www.abload.de/img/auflage406ihmt.png)
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The decline in Bild circulation seems to be in order with the general decline of printed media. I would not attribute it to a flight to quality, as the substitutes are likely to be audio-visual media or the internet.
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On March 18 2011 05:38 MoltkeWarding wrote:
The decline in Bild circulation seems to be in order with the general decline of printed media. I would not attribute it to a flight to quality, as the substitutes are likely to be audio-visual media or the internet.
probably true, last year bild.de was the most visited "news site"
it's possible the numbers are just transferring to their online stuff
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Obviously there are no more nudes on the front page. A hint of piety at least.
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It's really strange to me that Bild is as big in Germany as it is - tabloids here in America are nothing more than a niche market. I guess we get enough tabloid-like material in our politics...
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EPT
