Deutsche Welle has suspended another freelance employee from its Arabic editorial team amid allegations of violating its Code of Conduct.
The suspended employee was involved in an interview given in September 2025 to the Lebanese broadcaster Al Mayadeen, a station widely viewed as pro-Iranian and associated with the militant group Hezbollah. During the television appearance, the DW staffer reportedly claimed that the Federal Republic supported Israel specifically to maintain access to global financial markets, asserting that many key market players were supporters of either Israel or Jewish interests.
When contacted by the newspaper, Deutsche Welle declined to comment specifically on the personnel decision. However, the broadcaster made a clear statement: “We cannot comment on individual personnel matters. Antisemitic conspiracy theories clearly contradict the DW Code of Conduct. Violations of this code lead us to initiate appropriate labor law measures”. This follows a previous incident in April when the broadcaster stopped collaborations with two of its staff members after they made antisemitic remarks on social media.
Regarding its internal procedures, the DW stated its intention to continue improving its hiring and recruitment processes. Specifically, the agency plans to expand its pre-employment screening of candidates’ social media activities. A spokesperson explained that the goal is to assess whether additional tools could support the current manual, and therefore time-consuming, social media screening process, and also suggested that these tools could potentially expand the time period under review.
Currently, the DW reviews the social media accounts of applicants for a look back of six months. Nevertheless, the broadcaster stressed that undertaking continuous, comprehensive monitoring of social media accounts is neither its legal right nor consistent with existing law. Instead, the agency maintains that it focuses on actively and positively promoting the core values of the DW when recruiting new employees.