It appears to be custom and practice for German journalists to allow interviewees to “authorise” the content of their interviews prior to publication.
But a writer who has detailed examples of the process believes “many German journalists now think it’s time to end the tyranny of quote authorisation.”
Ben Knight began by referring to the uncomfortable experience of Matthias Müller, Volkswagen’s chief executive, when interviewed in the US on NPR about his company’s cheating on emissions tests.
He tried to excuse the matter as “a technical problem”, an accidental crime. This was so obviously a mistaken bluff that VW’s press department asked if Müller could give a second interview.
He began it by saying: “I have to apologise for yesterday evening because the situation was a little bit difficult for me to handle in front of all these colleagues of yours and everybody shouting”. This time he admitted that “we fully accept the violation.”
The damage had been done, however. Der Spiegel, the leading German news magazine, said Müller had “humiliated himself” and created a “disastrous” impression.
But, wrote Knight, “the German press in general was at least partially responsible for Müller’s predicament... German print journalists have allowed leading figures, like Müller, to take interview authorisation for granted, leaving them ill-prepared for the unforgiving directness of journalistic practices elsewhere.”
He recounted the case of Süddeutsche Zeitung’s recent interview with German’s finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble. He gave the paper, “one of the most respected in Germany,” an hour-long interview on 12 January.
But the resulting article “had to go through a three-day email exchange with his [Schäuble’s] press team before the minister’s words were finally considered to mean what he wanted them to mean.”
The final refinement altered a single word: “will” became the more ambiguous “would.” It prompted Markus Hesselmann, online editor for Tagesspiegel (who previously worked in Britain), to comment: “Most readers don’t know about these linguistic games at all. Next step: abolish authorisation.”
Knight’s article was published by Deutsche Welle, which conceded that “on occasion” it has also sought official authorisation for its interviews.
He pointed out that the German Federation of Journalists (DJV) published guidelines about the practice in 2010. It said that while authorisation could be legally important - since the interviewee has technically co-authored the copy - it should be limited to factual or linguistic correction.
But if changes threaten the authenticity of the interview or contradict any significant statement within it, the editors have the right to refuse to make them.
Source: Deutsche Welle
