Sample of the News Coverage of the Cologne Sexual Assaults

國

立 政 治 大 學

‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

1.2 Sample of the News Coverage of the Cologne Sexual Assaults

On the New Year’s Eve 2016, large scale sexual assaults were conducted “by men of Arab or North African appearance” outside Cologne main station (“String of New Year's Eve sexual assaults,” 2016). This event had dominated the German news over the following month and brought the issue of Germany’s refugee policy once again to the forefront of public attention. Meanwhile, the German government published that over 1 million refugees had arrived in the year 2015 (“Flüchtlinge Hoffnung Europa,” 2016). This was a watershed event in the development of refugee issue – security concerns and the acknowledgement of cultural differences between locals and the refugees continued to grow.

Due to language constraints, primarily with the German language, news media which offers English reports was the priority in this study. Among the varied German news media, only Deutsche Welle and Der Spiegel provide English content on their websites. Deutsche Welle’s online English website was ultimately chosen because it provides more daily news which is important for examination in this study compared to its counterpart. Additionally, Deutsche Welle serves as the international broadcaster for the German government and is enjoyed by a global audience of more than 135 million people and 29 million users of their digital offerings weekly (Tellmann, 2016). Instead of examining the media that is

representative of the media landscape in Germany, in terms of liberal, conservative, and neutral positions, which previous research has explored (Cardiff School of Journalism, 2015), I decided to put the focus on a media that secures more audiences worldwide. Being an international broadcaster for the Federal Republic of Germany, Deutsche Welle is positioned as a significant instrument of Germany’s “public diplomacy,” projecting its own “national values, policies, self-image, and underlying myth” (Zöllner, 2006). Its official stance was then compared with the statements of the focus group interviewees to see if Germany’s asylum policy was in line with the public opinion.

‧ 國

立 政 治 大 學

‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

The study explored the news articles published on the English website of Deutsche Welle. News reports carried between January 4 and January 18, 2016 were examined. All types of articles that either took the Cologne assaults, issues related to asylum seeking, or immigration as their main themes were selected. Keywords included “Cologne,” “refugee,”

“migrant,” and “asylum.” Overall, a total of 123 articles were examined.

1.2.1. Deutsche Welle

Deutsche Welle is Germany’s international broadcaster. It was founded in 1953 as a radio service to inform audiences abroad about the new, post-Nazi Germany (Zöllner, 2006).

Today, Deutsche Welle offers radio, television and online services in 30 languages and claims a global audience of more than 135 million people with 29 million users of their digital offerings weekly (Tellmann, 2016). Among its TV programs, their English program is the most popular with viewers reaching 30 million people every week. On its own website, Deutsche Welle claims that its mission is to convey “Germany as a nation rooted in European culture and as a liberal, democratic state based on the rule of law.” Deutsche Welle is publicly funded, receiving 261 million euros per year. Though it claims it remains editorially

independent guaranteed by an elaborate system of regular parliamentary accords, its autonomy is still limited by its political mission. As the station’s ex-director general, Erik Bettermann, noted, “[Deutsche Welle] conveys a part of the Federal Republic of Germany’s significance and all her social and political positions” (Zöllner, 2006). Deutsche Welle functions as a part of the country’s “public diplomacy” (Zöllner, 2006).

1.2.2. New Year’s Eve Sexual Assaults in Cologne

On the New Year’s Eve 2015, in Germany’s fourth-largest city, Cologne, up to 1000 intoxicated men groped and sexually assaulted women in the city’s famous square between central train station and towering Gothic cathedral. Around 90 women were robbed,

threatened, or sexually molested by men of “Arabic or North African appearance.” Similar

‧ 國

立 政 治 大 學

‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

offenses occurred in a smaller scale in other European cities, including Hamburg, Stuttgart, and Helsinki. It was not until January 4, 2016 that the news media uncovered the incident because the police initially described the New Year’s Eve as “peaceful.” The police defended that the situation was not clear because the complaints only came in bit by bit. This incident soon dominated the political debate and public discourses on social media, with many linking the offences with the recently-arrived refugees.

German police and authority initially refused to comment on whether refugees were involved in the violence and appealed to the public not to exploit the incident with refugee debate. However, on January 7, 2016 local newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger and national daily Die Welt revealed that the police actually checked at least 100 people’s identity on the New Year’s Eve and found that “most of them were recently-arrived asylum seekers.”

Furthermore, the newspapers stated that the officer wanted to mention “asylum seeker” and

“Syrians” in the first internal police report, but the senior officer decided not to because it would be “politically awkward.” The police did not confirm whether these people were involved in the sexual assaults. On January 8, 2016, Cologne police chief, Wolfgang Albers, was sent into provisional retirement due to the police’s inability on the New Year’s Eve and withholding information.

Until January 18, 2016, the police had received 561 complaints, 45%of them were related to sexual violence. Two rapes were reported. Meanwhile, 19 suspects were under investigation. Ten of them were seeking asylum in Germany while others were staying in Germany illegally. According to the police, these suspects were mainly involved in pickpocketing. On the same day, the police arrested the first sexual assault suspect. The Algerian suspect was caught at a refugee accommodation.

To prevent such violence, the German authorities were considering deploying more video surveillance in public places and police presence on the streets. At the same time the politicians, especially the ruling parties, CDU and CSU, were proposing amending the laws

‧ 國

立 政 治 大 學

‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

to deport criminal foreigners easier. This proposal was supported by the Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, and the Justice Minister Heiko Maas. On January 7, 2016, Merkel stated that a close attention would be paid to the issue of deportation.

She was also concerned about “the fundamentals of cultural co-existence in Germany.”

However, the focus of the deporting issue was ultimately narrowed down to the asylum seekers. Asylum seekers who commit crimes like bodily harm, homicide, rape, and sexual assault would be deported even in the event of a suspended sentence. Sentences of more than one year would significantly increase the possibility of deportation. The rest of the ruling party, SP, and some left-wing politicians were against this proposal, arguing that sending the asylum seekers back to their home countries where their lives could be threatened contradicts the spirit of Geneva Convention. Furthermore, the ruling parties were also calling for North African countries like Morocco and Algeria to be reclassified as “safe countries of origin”

which could facilitate deporting asylum seekers from these two countries. In addition to tougher penalties, the parties all agreed on updating sexual assault laws to protect victims better.

This incident raised security concern among other European countries. Eastern European governments, including Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, especially connected these sexual assaults with the arrival of refugees. They then redoubled their opposition to take in Muslim refugees.

Domestically, several demonstrations were staged in different cities in the aftermath of the incident, showing a polarized German society. It was observed that Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA), the “anti-Islamization” organization,

attracted some citizens who have never demonstrated with them. Meanwhile,

counter-demonstrators also protested against sexism and racism. They argued that sexual violence against women was not a migrant phenomenon but a long-standing social problem.

On January 15, 2016, the public broadcaster ZDF published a poll, showing a rising number

‧

of Germans were more skeptical of refugees and questioned the Chancellor Merkel’s policies.

42%of the respondents believed that refugees represented a threat to German culture and social values.