Sender argues distrust after allegations of anti-Semitism/journalist suspected of right-wing campaign.
After allegations of anti-Semitism against journalist Nami Al-Hassan, a World Development Report finally decided not to work with the 28-year-old. “There is no longer any confidence in future cooperation,” said a report on development in Cologne after El Hassan published a critical article in the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. “The accusation that the WDR makes the selection of bidders based on a photo campaign is illogical.” In the guest article, El Hassan accused the newspaper Bild Zeitung of campaigning against her person and criticized the way the World Development Report handled her case.
Because of the allegations of anti-Semitism against Al-Hassan, which were reported by the newspaper, there have been discussions about the journalist for weeks. Therefore it was not initially used as an introduction to the science program “Quarks” in the World Development Report. It was originally scheduled to start in November. The World Development Report declared that they would “peacefully discuss what future cooperation might look like”.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany welcomed the decision of the Public Broadcasting Corporation to completely refrain from working with Hassan. “It is clear that doubts about Mrs. Hassan’s basic positions were justified,” Central Council President Josef Schuster told the online version of Jüdischen Allgemeine. However, public skepticism in Muslims is unacceptable. The World Development Report rejected the criticism of El Hassan’s contribution as a guest. “Regardless of the media coverage and public pressure in the case of Naimi Al-Hassan, the World Development Report advised carefully and intensively, because officials did not want to slightly hinder the career of the young journalist, but wanted to give her a chance,” the announcer said. .
The deciding factor in a WDR is good behavior in social networks and how the broadcaster deals with it. The WDR explained that “the WDR only discovered relevant information – such as omitting likes – from the media, even though she was in extensive exchange with Nami Al-Hassan. This put pressure on the trust relationship from the start.” .
Al-Hassan had written in her guest article that Bild had relayed a novel started by far-right internet activists to large parts of the public. She noted that after Bild newspaper first reported that she had publicly apologized for her participation in a demonstration in Jerusalem in 2014. In addition, research by Zeit Online showed how the campaign against them was “well-prepared” in far-right forums.
