All news

German ARD television biased in its programmes about Ukraine - channel’s board chairman

The ARD channel has received lots of complaints from viewers who expressed their outrage with the channel’s position in highlighting Ukraine’s crisis and “anti-Russian tendencies” in its reports

NEW YORK, November 22. /TASS/. Board Chairman of the German television ARD Paul Siebertz said that the channel had not been quite unbiased in broadcasting Ukraine’s crisis in recent months and focused on criticising Russia, the U.S. newspaper Wall Street Journal wrote on Saturday.

The ARD channel has received lots of complaints from viewers who expressed their outrage with the channel’s position in highlighting Ukraine’s crisis and “anti-Russian tendencies” in its reports.

Siebertz said that the board had decided to analyze ARD programming “after a flood of complaints.” He said he “had not seen this in his seven years on board.”

“The conclusion, according to leaked excerpts of board minutes: Some news reports failed to consider the role of the West in causing the crisis, while the format of some shows indicated “anti-Russian tendencies” and focused too much on “the personality of Putin,” the Wall Street Journal writes.

Siebertz said “the leaked excerpts represented just part of the board’s conclusions, but that he stood by them.”

“Of course it is right to criticize Russia, but one must also provide comprehensive reporting,” he said. “Many people see these political developments with great concern, and so it is very important to thoroughly debate the policies of our country.”

At the same time, Thomas Baumann disagreed with the board’s conclusions.

“I can’t see any indications that our coverage is hostile to Putin or hostile to Russia,” Baumann told the paper. “That is neither the intent nor is there evidence for this.