Ole Skambraks is very brave mid-level employee of German public broadcaster ARD, an organization with an annual budget of $8 billion and multiple television and radio services. He writes that he can no longer remain silent about the lopsided coverage of issues related to COVID-19 and its countermeasures, and has published what amounts to a cry from the heart at a website called Multipolar Magazin, available in German, English and French. I take it for granted that ARD does not approve of his essay, and use of their logo here is only for informational purposes to an American audience that may not understand its size and prestige in Germany.
The situation in Germany and most other countries in Europe is similar to that in the United States, with only one viewpoint allowed, even though it changes over time. Mass media act as enforcers of the orthodoxy. What follows are excerpts from the English Language version of the article. I urge readers to read the entire thing but will provide excerpts.
Skambraks writes from an idealistic posture, calling on his organization to live up to its ideals as a public broadcaster.
From the beginning, I felt that public
service broadcasting should fill precisely this space: promote dialogue
between advocates of measures and critics, between people who are afraid
of the virus and people who are afraid of losing their basic rights,
between vaccination supporters and vaccination sceptics. For the past
year and a half, however, the space for discussion has narrowed
considerably........To Read More....
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