TerrorismGerman responses to terror range from cautious to conspiratorial
Until this month, Germany had been spared from terrorist attacks with momentous losses of life. Since 18 July, four attacks have occurred. While the attacks have been frequent, none has been as deadly as the attacks in Nice, Paris or Orlando. That is a perverse comfort in times when attacks occur daily. But Germans no longer feel like terrorism is a distant tragedy. Germany has yet to see large-scale terrorist attacks like those in France or Belgium. The sheer number of refugees and the limited number of attacks ultimately makes the link between refugees and terror weak. The polarization of political opinions about security, however, could threaten Chancellor Merkel’s chances for reelection in 2017.
Until this month, Germany had been spared from terrorist attacks with momentous losses of life.
Since 18 July, four attacks have occurred: one by a teenage refugee on a train in Würzburg; a mass shooting and suicide by a German schoolboy in Munich; a murder and attack by a refugee in Reutlingen; and a suicide bombing by a refugee in Ansbach.
A total of ten innocent bystanders died in the attacks: one in Reutlingen and nine in Munich. The confirmation that two of the perpetrators were motivated by radical Islamic ideology has changed the mood here in Germany.
While the attacks have been frequent, none has been as deadly as the attacks in Nice, Paris or Orlando. That is a perverse comfort in times when attacks occur daily. But Germans no longer feel like terrorism is a distant tragedy. On 25 July, Bavarian journalist Andreas Bachmann commented that these events represent “the end of the world as we know it.” Fear and vigilance have entered the German vocabulary.
As a cultural studies scholar who researches migration to Germany, my research focuses on how stereotypes about Muslims – especially of violent Muslim men – are pervasive in German culture. Despite the association of refugees with terror, the most deadly attack was committed by a German citizen in Munich. Media responses to these attacks show an increasingly polarized political climate.
The German media landscape
Germany has a partially state-sponsored media system that requires official networks to be “balanced, nonpartisan and objective.”
In the breaking news segment broadcast by one state-sponsored outlet about Munich the evening of 22 July, the reporting was calm and measured. The blurry cellphone video of the shooter was shown – the viral clip so common to these tragedies. But the majority of the program consisted of two men in suits conversing about police readiness. The female reporter in the field ended her segment quickly, saying “There’s really nothing more to report.”
Bernd Ulrich, a journalist from Die Zeit (The Times), tweeted that evening: “This solidarity in the streets, this caution on TV, the decency of the police: I love this country.”
“Cautious” appropriately describes the state-sponsored media response to the attack. They were highly resistant to speculation and reluctant to label the motive of the shooter. On the other hand, CNN’s reporting received criticism from a political science professor, Cas Mudde, who posted screen shots of the coverage on Twitter.
