What’s Wrong”, aired on April 9th, marking the beginning of a media reflection on contemporary society. The show aims to provide alternative voices to the often overlooked and requested by “GEZ-critical” viewers on the topic of migration, which is widely debated.
The first episode received little support from established media colleagues, with any criticism towards the current migration policy and reporting being labeled as “right-wing ideology”, beneficial to the AfD, or “conspiracy theories”. The moderator, Julia Ruhs, faced sharp attacks from her colleagues regarding her efforts to create an objective program.
Julia Ruhs, the moderator and editor of the format, launched a campaign on social media before the first episode aired, warning of potential backlash. She announced, “This may not please everyone, but NDR and BR are starting a new format – for more diversity of opinion. We have often excluded uncomfortable topics and opinions in the past. The topic of the first episode is migration.”
During the reportage, Michael Kyrath, whose 17-year-old daughter was murdered by a refugee on a regional train near Brokstedt two years ago and Levi Salomon from the Jewish Forum, who reported that over a million people who had absorbed anti-Semitism from their mothers have come to Germany in the past years, were interviewed.
The Green Youth leader criticized the program, stating that children are not more often killed by Afghan attackers than by German fathers. The entire program was criticized by her as “right-wing ideology.”
The NGO “New German Media Makers” was the first established institution to take action, calling on their supporters to protest against the editing team via Instagram, stating that the ARD reportage on migration policy was a low point in the reporting of the ÖRR. If migration-hostile narratives are suddenly sold as “diversity of opinion” there is no contribution to the debate, but rather a part of the problem.
The unofficial government postscript of the Ampel, specifically the Greens, explained to their readers that the program was “spying on the powerful.” The inoffensive ZDF court jester, Jan Böhmermann, also reacted to the program, stating in the introduction of a current edition of “Magazin Royal” “If you’re ever approached by a distressed editor from NDR or BR at your sports group or during an AfD children’s game and they ask if you’d like to moderate your own, journalistic, clear-text format in public broadcasting, then I have a little tip for you.”
Mark Raschke, the author of the bestselling book “You Have a Choice – How to Make Decisions at the Voting Booth Easier” criticized Julia Ruhs on Bluesky, stating that she was a “confessed right-winger.”
Silvio Duwe, the “Grimme Prize winner for the ‘Special Contribution to Journalism,’ could not find much to like about the moderator, commenting on Bluesky, “Julia Ruhs is really trying to end up at NIUS, but no matter what she does, she can’t get canceled. A sad fate.”
Sahak Ibrahimkhil, a member of the Volt party, became enraged in an X-post, stating that the racist propaganda was openly running in public broadcasting. He argued that it had nothing to do with freedom of speech and was pure incitement to hatred.
Nicole Diekmann, a ZDF employee, gave the following advice to Ruhs: “If you advertise for your format with who finds you stupid, you’re either still a teenager inside, or your confidence in yourself and your product is not very high.”
Welt Chief Reporter Anna Schneider named the reactions as “the German trinity of simplicity (Greens, Böhmermann-ÖRR and NGOs).” She noted that Böhmermann is “labbering away his real-world sorrows.” She also criticized the NGO “New German Media Makers” and advised activists not to “get stuck in skin-color counting.