The Regional Court of Cologne dismissed the complaint of an AfD politician in its ruling of April 26, 2017 (Ref.: 29 O 162/16).
If a credible quote is taken from a source – albeit not necessarily a qualified one – a journalist is not subject to a comprehensive duty of verification.
Unattributed quote from an AfD politician
In February 2016, journalist Ralf Grimmiger reported on a planned demonstration by the “Ulm against the right” alliance on www.ulm-news.de.
The demonstration was to be a counter-event to the Baden-Württemberg AfD event.
SPD spreads quote for the first time
As part of his reporting, he used an alleged quote from AfD politician Frohnmaier, which was disseminated in the public call for the demonstration by the SPD, among others.
Our task will be nothing less than to drive all these anti-grassroots parties out of Germany.
If we get into government, God have mercy on them.
Frohnmaier defended himself against this with a temporary injunction against the distribution of the quote by ulm-news.de.
The quote simply did not come from him.
No comprehensive review obligation for credible citations
Although the journalist removed the quote from the website, he refused to accept the injunction.
AfD politician Frohnmaier then filed a lawsuit with the Cologne Regional Court, which was rejected.
Grimmiger had not breached his journalistic duty of care.
The ruling states:
The press cannot be required to carry out such checks without restriction, as the obligation to tell the truth should not be overstretched in order not to restrict the free communication process protected by the Basic Law (Art. 5 para. 1 sentence 1 Basic Law)
In addition, the research possibilities of small, independent regional Internet newspapers must be taken into account.
According to the Cologne judges, the SPD’s call for a demonstration is not a privileged source, but a credible one on which the journalist could rely.
An investigation would only have been necessary if the quote had been an obviously atypical statement by Frohnmaier.
If you look at Frohnmaier’s speeches from the past, there would be no doubt that the quote from the SPD could also have been from Frohnmaier.
According to the journalist’s lawyer, the regional court has now also opened up the layman’s privilege to small press companies.
This takes some of the pressure off small reporters.
However, it remains to be seen whether other national courts will follow the opinion of the Cologne Regional Court.