What? They do that here, too?

German media were too uncritical in their coverage of the 2015 refugee crisis, giving Angela Merkel’s open-door policy a free pass and failing to represent the legitimate concerns of ordinary people alarmed by the influx, a new study has found...

It said newspapers made no attempt to differentiate between rightwing radicals and ordinary people who were left feeling politically insecure or marginalized by the refugee influx. Instead of critical reporting, journalists had merely “adopted the viewpoint and also the slogans of the political elite…”

The report said Willkommenskultur became a kind of “magic word” used by certain sections of the media to turn ordinary people into good Samaritans and encourage them to carry out acts of kindness towards newcomers…

A recent poll by the University of Mainz, cited in the study, found that 55 per cent of those asked felt “systematically lied to by the media.” Some 26 per cent agreed with the statement that “the media and politicians work hand in hand to manipulate public opinion.”

War die nachrichtliche Berichterstattung über die Flüchtlingskrise zu einseitig?