It’s no secret that journalists have struggled to figure out how best to cover the far right and their signature issues here in Europe and, of course, across the Atlantic. A political party with 92 seats in the German Bundestag is inherently newsworthy, as are the issues it advocates. At the same time, the German (and European) media has been criticized for an overly sensational focus on refugee and migration issues here; constant media focus on such issues helps keep them on people’s minds even after the flow of migrants has slowed significantly. [...]
Asked about the party’s position on Germany’s retirement system and his AfD colleague Jörg Meuthen’s suggestion that there should be a “system change,” Gauland said his party had not voted on or released any specific plan for reforms. “We’re discussing this and have no determined concept,” he said. (Asked whether this meant that his party had, in fact, no “alternative” for Germany on this topic, Gauland replied there would be one after the next major party meeting, “not now.”) Referring to the party’s frequent rhetoric about wanting to “protect” the German people (presumably from migrants and increasing immigration), Walde then asked Gauland for the AfD’s position on “protecting” local renters from big international vacation rental companies like Airbnb—a major theme in Berlin, where previously-low rents are rising rapidly. “At the moment I can’t give you an answer on that,” Gauland said. “That has not been voted on in our party program.” On digitalization, which is a major topic of discussion among other political parties here, Gauland was asked to expand on an AfD colleague’s brief comments on the topic’s importance on the floor of the Bundestag. “I can’t explain that, and you’d need to ask an MP,” Gauland said, adding that he personally has “no close relationship to the internet.” [...]
There is a legitimate question to be asked about whether, insofar as it avoided asking a far-right leader about what is clearly his party’s signature issue, Walde’s interview was journalistically problematic. Given how big a role the issue plays in the AfD’s overall messaging, is it irresponsible not to bring it up? At the same time, it’s also true that the AfD’s position on refugee issues is well-known—to the point that other parties, such as the Bavarian conservative Christian Social Union, have attempted to co-opt it to boost their own electoral prospects. ZDF defended Walde’s line of questioning in a statement following the interview’s airing, saying Walde “addressed topics that have great meaning for the people of this country.”
Recent polling among the German electorate bears out ZDF’s point: In an early August Deutschlandtrend survey released by German broadcaster ARD, 39 percent named refugee issues as an important political topic—far below healthcare (69 percent) or social and retirement policies (64 percent). “What you saw is that the German far right doesn’t have any answers to a lot of the questions that really concern people,” said Marcel Dirsus, a political scientist at the University of Kiel. “Because people are not just concerned about immigration or crime or security, they’re also concerned about pension and climate change and digitalization. And [AfD leaders] have nothing.”
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