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<div style="margin: 0px;"><a
href="http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/57514"
target="_blank">http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/57514</a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">"Press Special Forces"</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">23 April 2009</div>
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<div style="margin: 0px;">BERLIN/BADEN-BADEN (GFP report) - The
reporting on the NATO summit at the<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">beginning of April was controlled centrally,
and coordinated by arrangement<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">with the agencies of repression of the state,
as evidenced by statements by<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">staff of the Südwestfunk (SWR) [the state
broadcasting corporation in<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Baden-Württemberg]. According to this, the
declared objective was to make the<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">"official images" the "dominant images". The
journalists accredited with NATO<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">were prepared for their job by a trained war
reporter, in close collaboration<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">with the Baden-Württemberg police. The man in
charge runs a private<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">"security" company which trains the managers
of German firms for secondment<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">to war zones, and, he himself says, includes
members of "police and military<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">special units" among his trainers. He
recently proposed that a "Special<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Forces Command" of government-paid press
spokesmen be deployed in "cases of<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">crises", such as terrorist attacks, which the
authorities did not preclude on<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">the occasion of the NATO summit.</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Dominant Images</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">The public broadcaster Südwestrundfunk (SWR),
which had already been<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">responsible for broadcasting propaganda
programs on military policy several<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">times (as reported at <a
href="http://german-foreign-policy.com/" target="_blank">german-foreign-policy.com</a>
[1]), acted as the "host<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">broadcaster" of the German Federal government
at the NATO summit in<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Baden-Baden and Strasbourg. SWR prepared the
#Weltbild, the central film<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">material supplied to television stations
around the world. According to the<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">station, a total of 400 people were involved
in the reporting on the NATO<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">events: motorcycle squads and "satellite
news-gathering teams" specially<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">assembled for this purpose were employed.[2]
The coordinator in the SWR's<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">"NATO Summit Planning Group", Georg
Weisenberger, explained that the goal of<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">the reporting was to ensure that the
demonstrations against the Summit did<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">not dominate public perception, but rather
that "the official images [become]<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">the dominant images".[3]</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><span> </span>"Rustic"</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">According to Weisenberger, the "cooperation"
with the Baden-Württemberg<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">police in this respect was "excellent".[4]
The law-enforcement authorities<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">not only acted as "contacts" for journalists,
but were also directly involved<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">in the preparation of the media
representatives for the NATO summit. More<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">than a hundred journalists trained how to
behave in case Molotov cocktails<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">were thrown at them, among other things, on
the grounds of the riot police in<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Bruchsal [near Karlsruhe].[5] The head of the
operations division of the<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Bruchsal riot police, Klaus Pietsch,
introduced the participants in the<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">training session to police tactics and
corresponding concepts, and prepared<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">them for "rustic" intervention measures by
the state forces of repression<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">against "troublemakers" and blockades.[6]</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">War Reporter<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Weisenberger's colleague in the SWR planning
group, Stephan Schlentrich, was<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">in charge of the training sessions for
journalists. This reporter for ARD<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">[the German national public TV network =
First Program] is considered a<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">specialist in the subjects of "internal
security" and "terrorism"; in the<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">past, he has been a lecturer at the Police
College in Villingen-Schwenningen<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">(Baden-Württemberg). Schlentrich trained as a
war reporter in England, and<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">has been part of the group of journalists
responsible for "crisis operations"<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">in the ARD since 2003; in this function he
has reported from the Iraq war<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">zones several times, for example.[7]</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><span> </span>Official Information</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Schlentrich also has close contacts to the
German military. For example, he<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">spoke on the subject of "Terrorism as a
Communication Strategy" in the spring<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">of 2008 for the Bundesakademie für<span> </span>Sicherheitspolitik
(BAKS) ["Federal<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Academy for Security Policy"]. At that time,
a comprehensive "supply of<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">official information" was demanded, in order
to counter "speculations", or<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">worse still, "false reports" spread by
journalists in the case of a terrorist<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">attack on Germany. For this purpose,
Schlentrich recommended setting up a<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">"special forces command" ("press spokesmen
SFC") consisting of PR experts,<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">that should be "on the spot rapidly in a
crisis", "in order to coordinate the<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">press work".[8] The name is a reference to
the Bundeswehr's Special Forces<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Command, which is in charge of undercover
operations behind enemy lines and<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">anti-guerrilla warfare in the theaters of
operation of the German armed<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">forces.</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">"Hostile Environment Training"</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Besides his work for ARD and the state forces
of repression, Schlentrich runs<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">the private Steinbeis-Transferzentrum
Communication, Safety and Security"<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">(CSS). The firm belongs to the Steinbeis
group, which registered a turnover<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">of 124 million euros in 2008 with its total
of 765 firms.[9] In addition to<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">training government representatives for
"operational tactical management" of<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">civilian and military bodies in case of
"major damage situations", such as<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">attacks with atomic, biological or chemical
weapons, CSS also offers a<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">"Hostile Environment Training".[10] This is
intended in particular for<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">managers, technicians, journalists, and
employees of NGOs, who are supposed<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">to "be prepared professionally for deployment
abroad and in worldwide hazard<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">areas". The program includes "introductions
to foreign cultures", "behavior<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">at military checkpoints", "danger
recognition", and "psychological<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">preparation for extreme situations such as
kidnappings". According to CSS,<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">the "permanent core of trainers" includes
both cultural specialists,<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">physicians, and psychologists, and
"experienced security experts" and<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">"trainers of police and military special
units".[11]</div>
<div style="margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br>
</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><span> </span>[1] see "Willkommen im Krieg"</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">[2] "SWR-Organisatoren: 'Mit der Polizei
läuft die Zusammenarbeit <span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">ausgezeichnet, mit der NATO gestaltet sie
sich schwierig' - <span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Satellitengestützte Fahrzeuge und
Reporter-Motorräder im Einsatz"; <span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.goodnews4baden-baden.de/"
target="_blank">www.goodnews4baden-baden.de</a> 16 March 2009</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">[3], [4] Interview with Georg Weisenberger; <a
href="http://www.goodnews4baden-baden.de/" target="_blank">www.goodnews4baden-baden.de</a>
16<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">March 2009</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">[5] "Ausbildung von 100 Medienvertretern für
den NATO-Gipfel: 'Man muss nicht<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">um jeden Preis das Bild des Tages schießen'";
<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.goodnews4baden-baden.de/"
target="_blank">www.goodnews4baden-baden.de</a> 22 March 2009</div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">[6] "Schiefes Weltbild: Wie die Fernsehbilder
des NATO-Gipfels 2009 von den<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Behörden beeinflusst werden"; <a
href="http://www.gipfelsoli.org/" target="_blank">www.gipfelsoli.org</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">[7] Portrait of Stephan Schlentrich; <a
href="http://www.it-defense.de/" target="_blank">www.it-defense.de</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">[8] Seminar für Sicherheitspolitik 2008:
Modul 5 - Krisen und <span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">Krisenmanagement in medialer Vermittlung; <a
href="http://www.baks.bundeswehr.de/" target="_blank">www.baks.bundeswehr.de</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">[9] "Daten und Fakten"; <a
href="http://www.stw.de/" target="_blank">www.stw.de</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">[10] Steinbeis-Transferzentrum Communication,
Safety and Security;<span> </span><a href="http://www.stw.de/"
target="_blank">www.stw.de</a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">[11] "Kopf in den Sand ist keine Lösung! Kaum
ein Unternehmen bereitet<span> </span>sich<span> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">ausreichend auf Krisensituationen vor"; <a
href="http://www.stw.de/" target="_blank">www.stw.de</a></div>
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