A mail from the Ministry of the Interior is currently causing a stir. It contains recommendations for cooperation between the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the media, with some points being interpreted as a certain form of censorship.
According to reports by “Kurier” and “Standard”, the Ministry of the Interior is to change its handling of the media. The newspapers refer to an e-mail from the ministerial office in which the national police directorates are “encouraged” to “limit communication with certain media to the most necessary (legally provided for) extent”.
Ministry of the Interior suggests changing media relations
The media quoted as follows from the mail: “Unfortunately, as always, certain media (e.g. ‘Standard’, ‘Falter’) and recently also the ‘Kurier’ have been reporting very one-sided and negative about the BMI and the police… Otherwise I take the liberty of proposing to limit the communication with these media to the most necessary (legally provided for) extent and not to allow them to have some candy as for example exclusive accompaniments…”.
But there will also be other changes: According to the mail, the citizenship and residence status of suspects will be explicitly mentioned in future mailings. Sex offences should also be communicated more intensively. The sender of the mail asks “above all to send out acts that are committed in public, show special modes of operandi (e.g. dancing), involve considerable violence or coercion or, if there is no connection between perpetrator and victim, also proactively”.
BMI spokesperson comments on allegations
Interior Ministry spokesman Alexander Marakovits commented Monday evening in a broadcast on reports of a restriction of information to certain newspapers. The mail was sent by department spokesman Christoph Pölzl. Minister Herbert Kickl (FPÖ) was “neither the client nor the recipient of this communication”, not even his cabinet, Marakovits stressed – and defended the procedure with “bias” of “Kurier” and “Standard”.
“The fact that the suspicion of bias toward certain media is not at all taken from the air is shown by the current reporting, he noted. The titles in “Kurier” (“Geheimpapier: Kickls brisante Medienkontrolle”) and “Standard” (“Innenminister Kickl attacks media freedom head-on”) give the impression that the recommendations come from the minister or have been written on his behalf.
“Fair cooperation with all media” is assured
“Marakovits said that “the explanations were based in part on years of experience of many communications employees” in the Ministry of the Interior. Of course it is “the right and even the duty of all media to critically examine the work of the police, the Ministry of the Interior and also the Minister of the Interior. But it is also the right of communication workers to get a picture and draw qualitative conclusions from the information they provide and the resulting reporting”.
Marakovits assures that the Ministry of the Interior is “very interested in fair cooperation with all media”. Therefore, a new guideline for transparent media communication will soon be drawn up under his responsibility with the involvement of those responsible for communication in the national police headquarters – and “of course made available to journalists”.
Pölzl had also sent the email reported by “Standard” and “Kurier” to the communications officers in the nine national police departments. These were “suggestions and comments without any binding or even instructional character”, assures Marakovits. “In many passages, the aim is to encourage a uniform appearance by the police and the Ministry of the Interior. Especially with regard to the nationality of foreign suspects and information about sexual crimes, there have been “so far very different approaches” in the national police departments. According to Marakovits, the goal is “comprehensive and clear information in the sense of the greatest possible transparency”.
Federal Chancellor Kurz takes the floor to block information
A mail from the Ministry of the Interior is currently causing a stir. It contains recommendations for cooperation between the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the media, with some points being interpreted as a certain form of censorship.
According to reports by “Kurier” and “Standard”, the Ministry of the Interior is to change its handling of the media. The newspapers refer to an e-mail from the ministerial office in which the national police directorates are “encouraged” to “limit communication with certain media to the most necessary (legally provided for) extent”.
Ministry of the Interior suggests changing media relations
The media quoted as follows from the mail: “Unfortunately, as always, certain media (e.g. ‘Standard’, ‘Falter’) and recently also the ‘Kurier’ have been reporting very one-sided and negative about the BMI and the police… Otherwise I take the liberty of proposing to limit the communication with these media to the most necessary (legally provided for) extent and not to allow them to have some candy as for example exclusive accompaniments…”.
But there will also be other changes: According to the mail, the citizenship and residence status of suspects will be explicitly mentioned in future mailings. Sex offences should also be communicated more intensively. The sender of the mail asks “above all to send out acts that are committed in public, show special modes of operandi (e.g. dancing), involve considerable violence or coercion or, if there is no connection between perpetrator and victim, also proactively”.
BMI spokesperson comments on allegations
Interior Ministry spokesman Alexander Marakovits commented Monday evening in a broadcast on reports of a restriction of information to certain newspapers. The mail was sent by department spokesman Christoph Pölzl. Minister Herbert Kickl (FPÖ) was “neither the client nor the recipient of this communication”, not even his cabinet, Marakovits stressed – and defended the procedure with “bias” of “Kurier” and “Standard”.
“The fact that the suspicion of bias toward certain media is not at all taken from the air is shown by the current reporting, he noted. The titles in “Kurier” (“Geheimpapier: Kickls brisante Medienkontrolle”) and “Standard” (“Innenminister Kickl attacks media freedom head-on”) give the impression that the recommendations come from the minister or have been written on his behalf.
“Fair cooperation with all media” is assured
“Marakovits said that “the explanations were based in part on years of experience of many communications employees” in the Ministry of the Interior. Of course it is “the right and even the duty of all media to critically examine the work of the police, the Ministry of the Interior and also the Minister of the Interior. But it is also the right of communication workers to get a picture and draw qualitative conclusions from the information they provide and the resulting reporting”.
Marakovits assures that the Ministry of the Interior is “very interested in fair cooperation with all media”. Therefore, a new guideline for transparent media communication will soon be drawn up under his responsibility with the involvement of those responsible for communication in the national police headquarters – and “of course made available to journalists”.
Pölzl had also sent the email reported by “Standard” and “Kurier” to the communications officers in the nine national police departments. These were “suggestions and comments without any binding or even instructional character”, assures Marakovits. “In many passages, the aim is to encourage a uniform appearance by the police and the Ministry of the Interior. Especially with regard to the nationality of foreign suspects and information about sexual crimes, there have been “so far very different approaches” in the national police departments. According to Marakovits, the goal is “comprehensive and clear information in the sense of the greatest possible transparency”.
Federal Chancellor Kurz takes the floor to block information
The Austrian Journalists Club (ÖJC) condemns any form of restriction of freedom of the press at home and abroad. According to a press release, the BMI spokesman’s e-mail is an encroachment on freedom of the press. ÖJC President Fred Turnheim urges the Minister of the Interior to ensure smooth and comprehensive information for all Austrian media.
If the Ministry of the Interior is really interested in a “fair cooperation with all media”, such mails should not be sent at all, he continued. According to Turnheim, the announced new guideline for transparent media communication must guarantee freedom of the press by the executive branch and the Ministry of the Interior and must under no circumstances restrict it.
BMI mail for SOS fellow human being a scandal
SOS Mitmensch strongly condemns the letter of the Interior Ministry in a broadcast. “The letter is a scandal. It is a frontal attack on critical media coverage and thus also a frontal attack on our democracy,” Alexander Pollak, spokesman for SOS Mitmensch, is appalled by the Interior Ministry’s approach.
IPI also warns against restrictions on freedom of the press
The recommendations of the FPÖ-led Ministry of the Interior to impose an information ban on critical media also ensure international reactions. On Tuesday, sharp criticism came from the International Press Institute (IPI) based in Vienna, a network of journalists and publishers founded in 1950 to defend and strengthen freedom of the media, which includes representatives from over 100 countries. “Restricting media access to public institutions for critical reporting is an unmistakable attack on freedom of the press,” said IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen. In a democracy, such a thing has no place.
It is the duty and fundamental right of the media to question the actions of a government. This is also ensured by the Austrian constitution and European human rights laws. According to Griffen, the proposals for dealing with critical media represent a “disturbing development” for Austria’s population and its right to independent information on matters of public interest. It is a “clear attempt to punish independent reporting”.