Germany “Today Show”
“Insolence” – Association of Journalists criticizes Charlotte Merz
Status: 13.05.2024 | Reading time: 3 minutes
CDU leader Friedrich Merz with his wife Charlotte at the party conference
What: REUTERS
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What is German dominant culture? “Heute Show” reporter Lutz van der Horst wanted to ask CDU party leader Friedrich Merz this question. His wife intervened – forcefully. The German Journalists Association is outraged.
A contribution from the ZDF satirical program “Heute-Show” from the CDU party conference is still making the rounds on social media. It shows reporter Lutz van der Horst, who asks CDU politicians questions about the topic of “leading culture” on the sidelines of the event that took place in Berlin this week. He also tried to ask party leader Friedrich Merz the question of what German dominant culture was, but he ran away from him. Instead, his wife Charlotte intervened.
“That also means answering when asked!” van der Horst calls after Merz while a security man pushes him away. The scenes can be seen in a post on YouTube published on Saturday. “He’s just a little Pasha,” van der Horst says into the camera when Charlotte Merz approaches him. She taps him on the shoulder, reaches into the microphone with a smile and pushes the reporter’s arm down.
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“Leading culture means first asking whether you want to give an answer,” the 63-year-old whispers to him. Your attempt to stop the recording by pressing down on the microphone fails. “Well, but when I ask, he says no,” van der Horst replies rather meekly as Merz walks away.
Daniel Günther also has an opinion on the dominant culture
The qualified lawyer, who works as a judge in Arnsberg (Sauerland), received a lot of criticism for her behavior not only online, but also in the media. The German Association of Journalists (DJV), for example, harshly attacked the wife of CDU chairman Friedrich Merz in an interview. The fact that Merz’s wife “wants to teach journalists rules of etiquette is an outrage,” said spokesman Hendrik Zörner the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”. “The rules of conduct between politicians and journalists are not derived from what the CDU wants to define as the dominant culture.”
But the journalists’ association also showed little understanding for the behavior of the CDU chairman himself. “The fact that the leader of the largest party in the Bundestag allows himself to be shielded from journalists by bodyguards shows little sovereignty.”
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By the way, the TV scene in question didn’t end there. The reporter then asks the head of the police union, CDU member Rainer Wendt, when he can now call the police: “I tried to talk to Mr. Merz and I was physically attacked.” Wendt replies with a laugh: “Then they did everything right.” But he could always call the police.
Unlike Merz, Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther had no problem with the ZDF issue. When the reporter wanted to know whether it was part of the leading culture to bring the topic of leading culture out of the drawer every few years, Günther replied self-ironic: “Absolutely. Because we just couldn’t think of anything else, I think it’s important to keep rehashing it.”