A recent study shows that Muslims are often negatively portrayed in the German media. Is this really the case? The research indicates that this trend has been in evidence since 9/11. Klaudia Prevezanos has the details
For years, the terms “doner murders” and “Turkish mafia” were used by German media in reports about a series of attacks that resulted in the murder of nine Turkish and Greek immigrants. In November 2011, it emerged that the murders were probably committed by an extreme right-wing terror cell calling itself the National Socialist Underground, or NSU.
For Semiya Simsek, the daughter of the first victim, these are “thoughtless, cynical and racist” terms. She has written a book about the murder of her father, Enver, titled Schmerzliche Heimat (Painful Homeland). “Now everyone realizes that these are racist terms, but that wasn’t the case back then,” she says today, referring to the conduct of the media since it became clear that the killers were driven by right-wing motives and that the murders were not related to criminal activities within the victims’ families. The NSU trial is set to begin on 6 May 2013 in Munich.
