A plan by Germany’s first high-level Muslim official to teach manners to the media triggered a storm of outrage Friday, with news editors accusing her of censorship.
Aygul Ozkan, minister of integration in Lower Saxony state, had asked media to sign a charter to abstain from racist reporting.
The draft proposed that signatories ‘use culturally sensitive language,’ educate readers to think ‘interculturally’ and devote news attention to ‘the challenges of integration.’ She suggested leading editors meet in August to publicly sign the charter.
Editors of Lower Saxony newspapers slammed the Ozkan plan.
‘It’s the crassest attempt by any politician for a long time to guide newspapers and the electronic media,’ said Rolf Seelheim, editor of the Nordwest Zeitung in the city of Oldenburg.