[Dissent-fr-info] "Embedded" and indoctrinated reporters at Strasbourg summit

[Dissent! France Info Newsletter]

http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/57514

"Press Special Forces"

23 April 2009

BERLIN/BADEN-BADEN (GFP report) - The reporting on the NATO summit at the 
beginning of April was controlled centrally, and coordinated by arrangement 
with the agencies of repression of the state, as evidenced by statements by 
staff of the Südwestfunk (SWR) [the state broadcasting corporation in 
Baden-Württemberg]. According to this, the declared objective was to
make the 
"official images" the "dominant images". The journalists accredited with
NATO 
were prepared for their job by a trained war reporter, in close
collaboration 
with the Baden-Württemberg police. The man in charge runs a private 
"security" company which trains the managers of German firms for secondment 
to war zones, and, he himself says, includes members of "police and
military 
special units" among his trainers. He recently proposed that a "Special 
Forces Command" of government-paid press spokesmen be deployed in "cases of 
crises", such as terrorist attacks, which the authorities did not
preclude on 
the occasion of the NATO summit.

Dominant Images

The public broadcaster Südwestrundfunk (SWR), which had already been 
responsible for broadcasting propaganda programs on military policy several 
times (as reported at german-foreign-policy.com
<http://german-foreign-policy.com/> [1]), acted as the "host 
broadcaster" of the German Federal government at the NATO summit in 
Baden-Baden and Strasbourg. SWR prepared the #Weltbild, the central film 
material supplied to television stations around the world. According to the 
station, a total of 400 people were involved in the reporting on the NATO 
events: motorcycle squads and "satellite news-gathering teams" specially 
assembled for this purpose were employed.[2] The coordinator in the SWR's 
"NATO Summit Planning Group", Georg Weisenberger, explained that the
goal of 
the reporting was to ensure that the demonstrations against the Summit did 
not dominate public perception, but rather that "the official images
[become] 
the dominant images".[3]

 "Rustic"

According to Weisenberger, the "cooperation" with the Baden-Württemberg 
police in this respect was "excellent".[4] The law-enforcement authorities 
not only acted as "contacts" for journalists, but were also directly
involved 
in the preparation of the media representatives for the NATO summit. More 
than a hundred journalists trained how to behave in case Molotov cocktails 
were thrown at them, among other things, on the grounds of the riot
police in 
Bruchsal [near Karlsruhe].[5] The head of the operations division of the 
Bruchsal riot police, Klaus Pietsch, introduced the participants in the 
training session to police tactics and corresponding concepts, and prepared 
them for "rustic" intervention measures by the state forces of repression 
against "troublemakers" and blockades.[6]

War Reporter 

Weisenberger's colleague in the SWR planning group, Stephan Schlentrich,
was 
in charge of the training sessions for journalists. This reporter for ARD 
[the German national public TV network = First Program] is considered a 
specialist in the subjects of "internal security" and "terrorism"; in the 
past, he has been a lecturer at the Police College in
Villingen-Schwenningen 
(Baden-Württemberg). Schlentrich trained as a war reporter in England, and 
has been part of the group of journalists responsible for "crisis
operations" 
in the ARD since 2003; in this function he has reported from the Iraq war 
zones several times, for example.[7]

 Official Information

Schlentrich also has close contacts to the German military. For example, he 
spoke on the subject of "Terrorism as a Communication Strategy" in the
spring 
of 2008 for the Bundesakademie für  Sicherheitspolitik (BAKS) ["Federal 
Academy for Security Policy"]. At that time, a comprehensive "supply of 
official information" was demanded, in order to counter "speculations", or 
worse still, "false reports" spread by journalists in the case of a
terrorist 
attack on Germany. For this purpose, Schlentrich recommended setting up a 
"special forces command" ("press spokesmen SFC") consisting of PR experts, 
that should be "on the spot rapidly in a crisis", "in order to
coordinate the 
press work".[8] The name is a reference to the Bundeswehr's Special Forces 
Command, which is in charge of undercover operations behind enemy lines and 
anti-guerrilla warfare in the theaters of operation of the German armed 
forces.

"Hostile Environment Training"

Besides his work for ARD and the state forces of repression, Schlentrich
runs 
the private Steinbeis-Transferzentrum Communication, Safety and Security" 
(CSS). The firm belongs to the Steinbeis group, which registered a turnover 
of 124 million euros in 2008 with its total of 765 firms.[9] In addition to 
training government representatives for "operational tactical
management" of 
civilian and military bodies in case of "major damage situations", such as 
attacks with atomic, biological or chemical weapons, CSS also offers a 
"Hostile Environment Training".[10] This is intended in particular for 
managers, technicians, journalists, and employees of NGOs, who are supposed 
to "be prepared professionally for deployment abroad and in worldwide
hazard 
areas". The program includes "introductions to foreign cultures", "behavior 
at military checkpoints", "danger recognition", and "psychological 
preparation for extreme situations such as kidnappings". According to CSS, 
the "permanent core of trainers" includes both cultural specialists, 
physicians, and psychologists, and "experienced security experts" and 
"trainers of police and military special units".[11]

 [1] see "Willkommen im Krieg"
[2] "SWR-Organisatoren: 'Mit der Polizei läuft die Zusammenarbeit  
ausgezeichnet, mit der NATO gestaltet sie sich schwierig' -  
Satellitengestützte Fahrzeuge und Reporter-Motorräder im Einsatz";  
www.goodnews4baden-baden.de <http://www.goodnews4baden-baden.de/> 16
March 2009
[3], [4] Interview with Georg Weisenberger; www.goodnews4baden-baden.de
<http://www.goodnews4baden-baden.de/> 16 
March 2009
[5] "Ausbildung von 100 Medienvertretern für den NATO-Gipfel: 'Man muss
nicht 
um jeden Preis das Bild des Tages schießen'";  
www.goodnews4baden-baden.de <http://www.goodnews4baden-baden.de/> 22
March 2009
[6] "Schiefes Weltbild: Wie die Fernsehbilder des NATO-Gipfels 2009 von den 
Behörden beeinflusst werden"; www.gipfelsoli.org
<http://www.gipfelsoli.org/>
[7] Portrait of Stephan Schlentrich; www.it-defense.de
<http://www.it-defense.de/>
[8] Seminar für Sicherheitspolitik 2008: Modul 5 - Krisen und  
Krisenmanagement in medialer Vermittlung; www.baks.bundeswehr.de
<http://www.baks.bundeswehr.de/>
[9] "Daten und Fakten"; www.stw.de <http://www.stw.de/>
[10] Steinbeis-Transferzentrum Communication, Safety and Security; 
www.stw.de <http://www.stw.de/>
[11] "Kopf in den Sand ist keine Lösung! Kaum ein Unternehmen bereitet 
sich 
ausreichend auf Krisensituationen vor"; www.stw.de <http://www.stw.de/>
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