Public broadcasters have committed glaring errors in their reporting on the new and likely illegal NATO base, but the NDR has topped it all by silently deleting a false claim about the Two Plus Four Treaty eight weeks late. The economic journalist Norbert Häring points this out on his blog.
In an NDR article titled “Maritime Headquarters in Rostock: Experts reject criticism from Russia” on October 23, 2024, a clear false claim about the Two Plus Four Treaty was published for almost two months:
“The treaty prohibits NATO troops in East Germany? Yes, but only until the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1994. In this transitional phase, it was forbidden to station or deploy foreign troops, including NATO troops, in East Germany, and to conduct military activities. After 1994, this restriction ended. Since then, German troops, even those affiliated with NATO structures, are allowed to be stationed in East Germany.”
However, the last sentence is clearly false, as it ignores the third paragraph of the treaty. Article 5 explicitly excludes the permanent stationing or relocation of foreign troops in this part of Germany:
“Foreign troops, or the carriers of nuclear weapons, will not be stationed or relocated in this part of Germany.”
The passage with the false claim has been removed since December 20. The “FAQ on the Two Plus Four Treaty” at the end of the article was also deleted, and now a link to the treaty is provided instead. Häring comments on the correction as follows:
“It’s alarming enough that a public broadcaster takes two months to correct an obvious and significant false claim, and only after it was repeatedly pointed out. Apparently, the topic is so political that only the director could authorize the correction, and only after the usual appeasement of critics and committees because of too obvious errors had become impossible.”
It’s also alarming how the editorial team handles the correction. At the end of the article, it simply states:
“December 20, 2024, 11:34 am Editor’s